The Battle I Staked My Life On
by Griff4823
Summary: KaiserGreymon, a wandering adventurer, has received an offer that he can't refuse: a large sum of money in exchange for eliminating a group of pirates plaguing the coastal city of Hydra's Port. However, what should be a routine job turns out to be more than he bargained for, as he's forced to confront new digimon, deadly adversaries, as well as his past... (Original universe)
1. Prologue: The Abyss' Shadow

**The Battle I Staked My Life On**

**Prologue: The Abyss' Shadow**

The ocean was a dangerous place.

In one moment, it could be calm and serene, and, in the next, it could be violent and ruthless. The ocean provided life to countless marine digimon and vegetation. Yet, at the same time, the sea could drag one down under its currents. It could drown, it could pummel with its waves, and it could crush under its immense pressure. It could go deep enough to where not even light could reach. The darkness of the abyss was a constant cause of both intrigue and fear.

The vast ocean was beautifully deceptive, and it should be - if not feared – at least respected, for it held many dangers within its inviting embrace.

* * *

Waves splashed down gently and the water bobbed up and down rhythmically. The crests of the deep, blue waves were highlighted by the bright moon shining overhead in the night sky. The stars above flickered like distant candles. The ocean was at relative ease.

This was all the better for the four digimon swimming through the ocean's surface. Skimming the surface of the dark, moonlit sea were four different-looking digimon.

At the front of the group was a humanoid digimon clad in blue, white-trimmed armour, which looked like diving gear. On his head, which emerged and submerged with every wave, he wore a long scuba mask that pointed back behind his head. He paddled through the water with long arms and sharp, webbed, metal claws. However, it was his strong, fish-like tail that did most of the swimming.

Behind the Depthmon was a mammoth of a mammal digimon. A giant, blue whale digimon with a massive, fluked tail swam steadily through the waves. Over the top half of his body he had a brown, helmet-like feature that glistened in the moonlight while wet. Several sturdy ropes were secured tightly around the Whamon's body.

These ropes were tied to a large, buoyant, raft-like vessel. It was as wide as the giant whale's body and half as long. Beneath the raft were many sealed barrels that served as pontoons to help keep the vessel afloat. On top of the raft were securely fastened containers that were presumably filled with goods.

Flanking the cargo-hauling Whamon were two sea serpent digimon – one on each side. Both were almost as long as the Whamon. They were both long and eel-like, they both wore bladed helmets on their heads, they both had numerous fins, and they both had red scales and white underbellies. However, they also shared some differences. The one to the right of the Whamon – the MegaSeadramon – had a gold helmet with green hair sticking out from under it. The one to the left of the Whamon – the WaruSeadramon – had a black helmet with orange hair sticking out from under it. They both swam at the same pace as the Whamon, making sure to keep at a similar pace.

The Whamon swam a bit higher and released a spout of sea spray from his blowhole. "There was a time when I could make this route without needing an armed escort..." he rumbled.

"Times have changed, I'm sorry to say," the Depthmon ahead of him replied while looking around the surf dutifully. "Can't be too careful nowadays with the pirates around here."

The WaruSeadramon scoffed. "Pfft. Pirates? What pirates? Have any of you seen any pirates around these waters? Because I sure haven't."

"That's because you don't have anything worth stealing," the MegaSeadramon called to him from the other side of the Whamon.

"Yeah, well I just don't know why we're even needed," the darker toned WaruSeadramon replied before dipping his head beneath the waves for an underwater view.

"Look, they wouldn't be very good pirates if they were in plain sight all the time, now would they?" the MegaSeadramon retorted. "Don't complain. We're getting paid good money for this."

"Just as long as you're not taking your share of the bits out of my pay," the Whamon mumbled.

The Depthmon looked over his shoulder and grinned under his mask. "With the amount you get paid for transporting cargo from port to port, it would be a raindrop in the ocean," he said, sending his hand skimming across the water. "Especially with the hazard bonus."

"Shouldn't we get a hazard bonus?" the MegaSeadramon asked. "We're the ones who are risking our lives to protect this cargo shipment."

"That's our job, genius," the WaruSeadramon called back to him.

The Depthmon shook his head with exasperation and dove underwater. He disappeared from sight and left only a trace of oxygen bubbles floating to the surface.

The Whamon continued swimming, pulling his shipment along as he did. "The last three merchant convoys in a row were attacked by those pirates, you know," he told the two Seadramons.

"Going _to_ Hydra's Port or _from_ Hydra's Port?" the MegaSeadramon asked, looking over at him.

"Both," the sea mammal responded. "It's getting too dangerous for other cities to ship to the place anymore. So if you two could do your jobs and pay attention, that would be great."

"Pay attention to _what_?" the WaruSeadramon asked. "The only thing around is water. No pira-"

Suddenly, a pillar of water shot upwards from out of the ocean, ahead of the trio. The geyser of water reached heights even higher than when Whamon expelled water from his blow hole. They could tell from the height and the volume that it was from an enormous blast of pressure.

Their Depthmon comrade suddenly emerged from the end of the waterspout, flailing as he flew through the air. The Depthmon fell and landed on the Whamon's back with a gasp.

"What the?!" the WaruSeadramon explained, looking around.

Suddenly, underwater blasts exploded around his and the MegaSeadramon's sides, sending two more cascades of water up from beside them. They let out roars as they were concussed by the unexpected blasts and thrown against the Whamon's sides.

"What is this?!" the Whamon demanded, trying to shake the two sea serpents off of him.

Suddenly, a figure launched itself into the air from beneath the water, shooting upwards like a spring. A strange, amphibious, humanoid digimon with webbed hands and feet flew through the air. He performed an impressive, acrobatic somersault, but his dark blue clothing and cape were so hidden against the backdrop of the night sky that it would be easier for the Whamon to just use echolocation to spot him.

The figure landed on top of the Whamon, right over the Depthmon on his back. He was holding a long, intimidating pole-arm in his hand; on one end was a feature akin to the cylinder of a revolver, and on the other was a blade in the shape of a crescent moon. His white hair blew in the sea breeze and he had an expressionless yellow beak. Over his face, he had a belt-like mask that covered one of his eyes, the other of which glared down at the Depthmon.

The Sagomon spun his staff around and placed the crescent-shaped blade down so that the tips were pressed against the Whamon and the Depthmon's neck was collared by the blade, the metal pinning him to the Whamon's hard back threateningly. "Nobody move," the Sagomon ordered coolly, continuing to glare at the Depthmon.

The MegaSeadramon groaned and arched his spine so that he was upright again. He saw the Sagomon on top of his teammate and was about to act, but he felt something hard and metal against his lower body.

"I wouldn't do that," a deep, gruff voice warned.

The MegaSeadramon looked down and saw a bipedal walrus-like digimon floating in the water. The waves splashed against the large, green shell, which was strapped to the digimon's back by a thick belt. He had two savage tusks protruding from his mammalian mouth and a giant, serrated horn stuck out threateningly from his forehead. His skin was greyish and the furry parts of his body were orange, but the MegaSeadramon's eyes were drawn more to the giant, metal hammer that was pressed against his scales.

From behind the Zudomon emerged another digimon, appearing from underneath the surf. The first thing that could be seen was a metal fin sticking out of the water. Following that was the deep blue colour of armour that covered the front half of a light-blue shark's body. Had it been brighter, MegaSeadramon would have been able to read the Digi Letters inscribed on his armour that read "Deep 2000". In addition, he had a long tail and two fins protruding from both sides of his body. The Tylomon gave a toothy grin at the MegaSeadramon. "You should just stay still, eel boy," he spoke threateningly.

The MegaSeadramon growled with anger and annoyance, wondering how exactly they got the drop on them. He looked over Whamon to see if his WaruSeadramon teammate was okay. The WaruSeadramon was in a similar situation. He was looking down at a whitish-grey submarine-like digimon. The digimon had four white fins sticking out from under her white armour, the two front ones doubling as flippers. She also appeared to have two small yellow arms mid-way on her body. Likewise, the part of the Submarimon's body that the WaruSeadramon was most concerned about was her serrated, spinning drill nose, which was dangerously close to his body.

Behind her was a dark blue, shrimpy, amphibian-like creature floating in the water. Rigged to his back was a tank; the silver upper half seemed to be used for oxygen and the red lower half for propelling himself while underwater. He had a white underbelly and face, and his green eyes seemed to lack any sort of confidence as he held up a small harpoon in the face of the giant sea dragon. Fortunately for the Divermon, the WaruSeadramon didn't really feel like testing what the other pirate's drill could do.

"So I guess there _are_ pirates," the WaruSeadramon murmured to himself, shrinking back against the Whamon's side uncomfortably.

The Whamon sneered when he saw a final digimon appear from the dark water. The first thing they saw was a humanoid body emerge from the water. A blue helmet, soaked with water, sparkled in the moonlight as it appeared. On the nose of the helmet was a sharp, metal blade and, at the back, was metal stylized as a fishtail that pointed up against the helmet, ending with a curved blue blade at the back of his head. Two white, fan-like ears protruded from under his helmet. The digimon also had yellow mouth with sharp teeth reminiscent of an aquatic fish. It was a variation from the more human-like face that some other digimon of that species had. His neck, arms, and back were covered in damp, purple fabric. He stood apart from the other pirates by how regal and majestic he looked. His armour was very ornamental; the blue spaulders protecting his shoulders had an intricate fish scale design, as did his torso armour and the faulds protecting his hips. He also wore sapphire breastplate and bracers.

The intimidating digimon finally rose to the surface, revealing that his entire lower body was that of a large, powerful fish. Red cloth hung from his sides and went around his body to meet at the back, the stray ends hanging behind him like a sash. Several belts were strapped around his fish-like lower body, ending at his tail. In his hand, he gripped a long trident that had prongs shaped like jagged, arrowhead-like fish heads, arranged in a triangular pattern around the shaft.

"What is that?" the Depthmon asked, looking past the Sagomon standing over him.

"Somebody you don't want to annoy," the Sagomon replied, not taking his eyes off of the Depthmon.

"Is that a Neptunemon?" the WaruSeadramon asked wide-eyed. "I didn't think they were real."

"Just like you didn't think pirates were real," the MegaSeadramon muttered, nervously watching as the Neptunemon swam over to them.

"Greetings, my fellow Deep Savers," he greeted, smiling as he quickly approached them. However, his smile wasn't the sort to put any of their hearts at ease; all it did was make him look even more fearsome.

"What's so good about it?!" the WaruSeadramon retorted hostilely.

The MegaSeadramon shook his head in response to his comrade. He turned to the Neptunemon and glared. "Who are you and what do you want?" he asked, hostility in his voice.

"My name is Captain Neptunemon," the Neptunemon replied. "And I think you know what we want."

The MegaSeadramon sneered and looked towards the cargo the Whamon was towing, which they were tasked with protecting. "The shipment from Hydra's Port…" he spoke. He frowned and turned back to Neptunemon, giving him a defiant glare. "…We won't give it to you! It's our jobs to protect it."

"Very professional," the pirate captain said, swimming up to him. "But you should be more concerned for your lives than for your shipment."

The Zudomon pirate swung his hammer back threateningly. The MegaSeadramon grimaced and looked at the other three before turning back to the Neptunemon.

"Give us the shipment and nobody gets hurt," Neptunemon promised him. "We have no intention of causing any of you grievous bodily harm unless you try to get in our way."

"Damnit…" the Depthmon growled in frustration. "I hate saying this, but just let them have it. I'd rather get chewed out than knocked out."

"Ditto," the WaruSeadramon agreed.

The Whamon grumbled, giving reluctant compliance.

The MegaSeadramon hissed. "…Damnit. Fine," he muttered, giving way, though extremely annoyed at himself for doing so.

Neptunemon smirked. "There's a good boy…" he spoke. He then turned to the mammal digimon. "Zudomon, cut the ropes and start pulling. This haul's a good one; I can feel it."


	2. Part 1: The Hero, For Hire

**Part 1: The Hero, For Hire**

A Digimon strolled down a beaten, oft-tread trail. The moderately warm breeze descended from above and blew over the hilly landscape, sweeping across the wide, more-or-less unobstructed path. It was wide enough that even many large Digimon could walk down it without any trouble.

The area consisted of uplands: an elevated, hilly terrain. The trail went up at a steady incline until it stopped at a crest at the far end of the path. From there on, it descended. The whole area was littered with patches of grass and dirt, creating a mixture of green and brown beneath the noon day sun. Off to the left of the path was plenty of plant life and vegetation, growing at the foot of a small, lush forest. To the right of the path was a plain of grass and dirt that descended down with the hill. The slope went down for a long ways. It looked like a good place for a picnic, since it offered a great view of the sparkling ocean in the distance.

However, the Digimon who was walking up the inclined trail really didn't look like the picnicking sort. A tall, muscular dragon man Digimon marched up the hill. As his long legs carried him, his gait reflected indignation, impatience, and determination, as characterized by his strong, swift, and lengthy strides. The strong, midday sunlight beat down on him. It made his red, gold-trimmed plate armour, which covered his upper body, hips, and femurs, shimmer strikingly. The rest of his armour was similarly coloured and had an ornamental, dragon motif. Covering his broad shoulders were metal plates, each designed like a red, gold-frilled dragon head, complete with a nose horn and teeth. Protecting his arms were long arm bracers that ended with more beaked dragon heads that extended over the Digimon's hands. Behind each of those heads was a striking cobalt plate; it was the only blue on the Digimon's body apart from his similarly piercing blue eyes, which stood out against all of the red. His knee guards and boots also bore draconic designs.

The dragon's head was covered in an orange helmet. He had a large nose horn and two bull-like horns sticking out of the side of his head, giving him an even more intimidating disposition. Behind his head, a massive broadsword, called the Ryūgonken, rested on small, stylized rack that protruded from the back of his chest armour. The gold-rimmed sword was as nearly as tall as he was. It trembled slightly as he walked, as did the long, swaying sash between his legs. The sun's light seemed to disappear when hitting the black scales of the Digimon's abdominal and elbow regions, which weren't covered by armour. By the expression on his face, he seemed as if he was annoyed or angry.

Resting on his forehead, above his angry, icy blue eyes, were blue rimmed, rectangular goggles with a black, rubber strap that reached behind his helmeted head. They stood out especially because they weren't part of the Digimon species' usual attire. He raised his hand to adjust the pair of goggles ever so slightly, softly thumbing at the clear lens as he did.

The Digimon was known as KaiserGreymon.

KaiserGreymon continued walking up the hill, continuing along the trail to where he needed to go. He let out an annoyed grunt, his eyes glancing to the side. The sound of footsteps followed him. He had been aware that he was being followed for the past five minutes. He could sense eyes leering at him. Finally, he was tired of it.

The KaiserGreymon swung around and glared. "Okay, what the bloody hell do you want?" he demanded in a strong, deep, accented growl.

The dragon man saw a tall, green humanoid Digimon walking towards him. He wore black pants and his green skin seemed to be covered in metal, bolts and chains. He looked even bulkier than KaiserGreymon was. What caught the reptile Digimon's attention the most was the giant axe fastened to his back.

"_A Boltmon_," KaiserGreymon thought to himself. He also noticed a demon Digimon with a goat-like head in a deep purple suit and a grey overcoat. He carried in his hands some sort of gun. Next to him was a large, white, quadrupedal sheep Digimon wielding a crossbow in his hands. He had large, purple horns sticking out of his head. He stared menacingly at KaiserGreymon.

On the Boltmon's other side was a giant, silver insect Digimon with four legs and menacing claws and scissor-like forceps. The final Digimon was a large, brown, bull-like Digimon who bore a cannon for an arm.

KaiserGreymon was pretty sure that they were Astamon, Pajiramon, Okuwamon, and Minotaurmon, respectively.

"Your belongings would be a good start," the Boltmon said, eyeing the satchel hanging from KaiserGreymon's shoulder.

KaiserGreymon narrowed his eyes into a glare. "You _don't_ want to do that…" he warned. He balled his hand into a fist momentarily before flexing his fingers and tensing his arm muscles, making ready to reach for the sword on his back.

"I _know_ what I want, lizard…" the Boltmon bandit spoke, stepping towards him. Suddenly he broke into a full sprint, grabbing his axe and charging at KaiserGreymon. "Your money!"

The dragon's hand shot over his shoulder immediately, grabbing the hilt firmly before ripping it from its bracket. In one fluent motion, he drew the Ryūgonken and swung it down. It met the Boltmon's giant battleaxe in a burst of sparks as steel met steel.

"Now!" the mega level Digimon yelled to his subordinates.

In his peripheral vision, KaiserGreymon saw the four other bandits start to run towards them. The dragon man snarled angrily and suddenly pushed the full weight of his body into resisting the Boltmon's axe. With his brawn and willpower, KaiserGreymon dug his boots into the ground and shoved against the muscular, green Digimon in a burst of force.

KaiserGreymon forced the Boltmon to stagger back a couple steps, putting space between himself and the bandit. With a roar, KaiserGreymon pulled his sword back and slammed it down. The blade met the Boltmon's axe again, who held the weapon steadily. KaiserGreymon's sword bounced back, but he quickly slashed the weighty metal down again. The Boltmon blocked the attack and the sword would repel backwards, only for KaiserGreymon to repeat the action with just as much force. The green cyborg could only block against the dragon's aggressive assault, since if he did anything else, he'd find the Ryūgonken embedded in him.

The routine of sparks and screeching metal continued, the sword falling and bouncing back for three more swings. The Boltmon felt his arm muscles beginning to give way and he was completely on the defensive. He hadn't been prepared for the sheer ferocity that he faced.

KaiserGreymon had the high ground in this sword battle, both literally and figuratively. He knew the Boltmon would break soon. However, he also knew that he was surrounded. The four ultimate level Digimon were flanking him from the sides and behind. He could tell by glancing out of the corners of his eyes that three of them were aiming their weapons at him.

"Hellfire!" the Astamon shouted, aiming his submachine gun at KaiserGreymon. The muzzle flared up like a flame as he pumped bullets from the weapon. The bullets slammed against KaiserGreymon's armour and ricocheted off, but the dragonman knew that wouldn't be the case if any of them hit his exposed scales.

"Hragh!" KaiserGreymon shouted bashing his sword down a final time against the Boltmon's axe, knocking his arm down and leaving the bandit exposed. The dragon warrior drove his boot into the Boltmon's chest and sent him stumbling back. He leveled his blade with the bandit's chest and the two bladed rims of the sword suddenly separated from the main blade and semi-circles making up the crossguard pulled back as if to mimic a crossbow.

"Enryūgeki!" A fiery beam ripped from the blade and slammed into the Boltmon, knocking him off his feet and sending him crashing down the hill.

"Treasure Bow!" the Pajiramon, the sheep-like archer, shouted. He aimed his own crossbow and started releasing arrow after arrow towards KaiserGreymon. One arrow sailed by KaiserGreymon's head, nearly nicking his neck, while another glanced off KaiserGreymon's armoured shoulder.

"I've had it!" KaiserGreymon proclaimed, swinging around to face the Astamon. He raised his free hand in front of him, aiming his palm at the demon. Waves of intense heat radiated from KaiserGreymon's hand, giving it a rippling effect like if he was holding it underwater. He narrowed his blue eyes at the Astamon and, without warning, flames ripped from his palm, seemingly out of nowhere.

A stream of fire coursed towards the Astamon, engulfing every bullet he fired and melting them into liquid metal. The Astamon let out a scream of pain as the inferno continued, engulfing him as well and burning him to the core until he was nothing but ash and data particles.

KaiserGreymon then stopped his attack. The fiery blast vanished and all that remained was a sphere of flames resting in his palm. He turned to the three gaping bandits.

"What the hell was that?!" the Minotaurmon demanded with wide, incredulous eyes. "I've never seen an KaiserGreymon do that!"

"I'm not just _any_ KaiserGreymon," KaiserGreymon told them menacingly.

"It can't be…" the Okuwamon gasped. Even without eyes, his fear managed to show through on his face.

"I'm a Fire Master," the sneering KaiserGreymon explained. "And you sorry lot just ruined my morning."

"A what?!" the Minotaurmon asked.

"Masters. They're a rare breed of Digimon who can harness intense elemental power outside of their usual capabilities," the Okuwamon replied, taking a step back. "This guy's is fire…"

"He's bluffing," the Pajiramon spoke, aiming his bow. "I've never even heard of this guy before. He's nobody special. Besides, even if he is a Fire Master, he's definitely not immortal or anything. His data's just like the rest of ours."

Suddenly, the Boltmon leader ran up behind KaiserGreymon and put his arm around his neck, putting the dragon in a chokehold. "Now! Attack now!"

KaiserGreymon growled and tried to move his sword, but he wasn't able to slash behind him with the long length of the sword and the awkward position he was in. "Damn it…!"

Both the Minotaurmon and the Pajiramon raised their weapons, running closer so that they wouldn't accidentally hit their leader. "Hold him still, boss!" the Minotaurmon said as energy particles gathered in his cannon arm.

The dragon man gripped the hilt of the Ryūgonken in both his hands and aimed the tip of the blade towards the ground. "This is your last chance," he grunted. "Final warning…"

"Shoot him!" the Boltmon shouted, still grappling with KaiserGreymon.

KaiserGreymon growled, watching as the Pajiramon and Minotaurmon aimed at him while the Okuwamon kept his distance. "Damn it! Kuzuryūjin!" he shouted, driving his blade deep into the grass.

Fire suddenly ignited in the ground, leading from the Ryūgonken and running over the dirt and grass in eight straight lines with the blade at their center. Appearing around the four Digimon was a circle that erupted in flames, connecting the lines of fire to eight points.

KaiserGreymon grunted as he summoned the energy of the dragon veins – the powerful leylines – that flowed through the core of the Digital World's terra. From the prescribed points at the end of the lines, eight dragons of flame suddenly burst from the ground. The spirits howled and roared with the snarls of towering flames. The serpent-like pillars of fire moved around erratically and wildly. They turned and looked at the three bandits with hungry eyes

KaiserGreymon panted and snarled, gripping the Ryūgonken with trembling hands as he poured his energy into controlling the eight dragons. He had only been a KaiserGreymon for a relatively short amount of time – only about five years. It certainly wasn't enough time to completely master this attack which used a source of power that was so primal and hard to control. It certainly didn't help that the eight dragon souls were as wild, fiery, and stubborn as he was, and there was only one of him.

The dragon man let out a strained yell before his body ignited with flames, both in an attempt to hurt the Boltmon and from the sheer strain of controlling the fiery salamanders. As a Fire Master, KaiserGreymon was unaffected by the flames engulfing him. However, the Boltmon was not.

The bandit let out a shout of pain and let go of KaiserGreymon, staggering backwards. KaiserGreymon's eyes then flashed with fire and the eight dragon heads surrounding the four swiftly descended on them. The two ultimate level Digimon could only fire off their attacks in fear as the burning dragon souls engulfed them, the hungry flames sweeping through their bodies. The Pyro Dragons roared as they tore the two to bits of data.

KaiserGreymon turned around to look at the Boltmon as the pillars of fire passed by the dragon harmlessly. The green mega level tried hacking off one of the attacking fire dragon's heads, but it was ineffective, as the fire merely fused together again after the axe passed through it. Four of the living flames proceeded to engulf his body, pulling cries of pain from the Boltmon's throat.

"That's enough. You've had your fun now," KaiserGreymon muttered to the dragon souls. He sneered and pulled the Ryūgonken from the ground. As soon as the blade left the earth, the blazing spirits let out roars and suddenly disappeared back into the ground. The dragonman grunted heavily and aimed his sword at the agonized Boltmon.

"Enryūgeki!" KaiserGreymon dug his feet into the ground, bracing himself as he fired an intense blast from the tip of his sword. He snarled as he skidded back through the dirt from the recoil, but managed to remain standing. The beam ripped through the air and slammed into the Boltmon's chest. It struggled against him for a few moments before finally tearing through his body and obliterating him.

As the smoke cleared, KaiserGreymon exhaled strongly through his nostrils. He slowly turned around to face the Okuwamon, who avoided the wrath of the nine-headed dragon formation. The giant insect let out a fearful cry.

"…Get lost," KaiserGreymon told the surviving bandit. He hoped the Okuwamon would listen to him. He didn't want to kill him if he could help it.

"Okay!" the Okuwamon complied with a series of zealous nods. He started flying away as fast as his wings would take him, while still glancing at KaiserGreymon every so often, worried that the dragon might change his mind.

KaiserGreymon watched the bug as he flew off. When the Okuwamon was finally out of sight, KaiserGreymon let his weakness show. He dropped his sword and collapsed to the dirt on his hands and knees, gasping and sucking in air. The Kuzuryūjin attack really took a lot out of him. It wasn't easy to control such a powerful and primal force like those dragon souls. He grimaced and panted. Sweat from his neck and head ran down both the outside and inside of his helmet. As the liquid pooled near his chin, he removed his confining helmet and breathed more freely.

After a few moments, he seemed to regain his composure again. KaiserGreymon stood up and wiped the sweat from his black scales before reattaching and fitting his orange helmet around his head. He picked up his goggles and adjusted them carefully back to their usual resting spot on his head. "Bloody hell, that still takes a lot out of me," he muttered. KaiserGreymon sighed and picked up his sword, reaching it over his shoulder and placing it on its holder on his back. "But no pain, no gain."

KaiserGreymon walked up the incline until he reached the crest of the hill. Once he reached the apex, he stared down the path. The hill descended and the trail led for two kilometers downwards. The hillside was littered with grass, dirt, and small rocks, much like the rest of the area up there. The small, loosely-spread forest to his left continued to span the hill before becoming too scattered to be called a forest.

At the very end of the path, KaiserGreymon could finally see his destination: a sizeable port city. It was constructed around a wide bay that led to the nearby ocean. He couldn't make out the finer details of the city from that distance, but it seemed to be a definite landmark of the area. It wasn't just a minor town. The harbour looked active and the city was nothing to shake a stick at.

"Well, there it is: Hydra's Port. I just hope that I'll be able to get a bit of rest once I reach it," he said to himself. "I'll need my rest for that job. A handful of pirates shouldn't be too tough to handle... As I always say: who dares, wins."

With those words, KaiserGreymon started trekking down the hill, towards the city.

Little did he know, a pair of eyes had been watching him from the shade of the nearby forest…

* * *

About fifteen minutes later, KaiserGreymon reached the city's southern entrance. He had felt that it had taken entirely too long for him to finally arrive. It had taken him the entire morning and the later hours of last night to trek from Saversberg, but he guessed he was used to long travels by now.

At the young age of twenty six, KaiserGreymon had been to many different places around the Digital World. That was his job. He went from place to place taking various different jobs that utilized Digimons' strengths and abilities. There were many different names for his sort of job. Some included 'adventurer', 'knight-errant', 'oddjobber', 'mercenary', 'hired muscle', or 'soldier of fortune'. It all depended on how the Digimon wanted to brand themselves.

The jobs ranged from defeating bandits or outlaws to finding a specific item. Some of the jobs were noble, some of the jobs were obscure, and some of the jobs could even be nefarious. It all depended on the Digimon who posted the job. However, the Digimon who wanted to hire other Digimon for more evil or morally ambiguous deeds hardly broadcasted the job to the world.

Some of the jobs were open calls, where several Digimon could apply to be hired by the client and it was either first come, first serve. In other cases, the client would choose the Digimon they felt was best suited for the job, depending on the circumstances. Some clients, however, would request for a specific Digimon type or even a particular individual.

This was the case with KaiserGreymon. He had received a message via a winged messenger while he was stopping in Saversberg. It asked for him specifically to come to this coastal city, and he wasn't about to turn them down.

After KaiserGreymon passed through the entrance, he entered the main street of Hydra's Port. The place was bustling with many Digimon. As it was midday, all of the shops and stalls were open with Digimon pouring in and out of them. Many Digimon moved around on foot and several traversed the city by wing. The noise of their chatter littered the air.

KaiserGreymon's metal boots clamoured as he walked across the large, flat slabs of paved rock that were scattered throughout the roads. He looked around and saw several food and item stands lining the streets. There were also numerous buildings of various sizes made of both stone and wood. Many of the buildings around were about one or two stories high, but there was also the common 'large' size building to better accommodate the bigger Digimon like Greymons or Seadramons.

The dragon man hopped up on the sidewalk and tried to stand on the toes of his boots to see over the row of buildings on the opposite side of the street. He could see the tops of some taller buildings. The higher ones seemed to be clustered more towards the center of Hydra's Port, nearer to the harbour than the entrance. The tall, grey dome of a large building in particular caught his eye. He felt like that could be the place he was looking for, given its size and design, but he wasn't sure.

KaiserGreymon frowned a bit and continued down the sidewalk. He could certainly tell that this place was a port city. The aroma of salt, fish, and the sea was flooding into his nostrils, even behind his helmet. He didn't really like the smell, but he hoped it would grow on him in case he had to spend a lot of time here. He also noticed that a large majority of the Digimon in Hydra's Port seemed to be of the aquatic persuasion. Given the city, it made sense that there were a lot of marine Digimon around. Among them, he could see Crabmon, Gomamon, Mermaimon, Shellmon, and a few Seadramon.

As he walked, he swung around his shoulder bag and reached his hand inside. It was a little hard to root around in the bag with the obtrusive dragon head on the armour guarding his forearm, but he managed to find what he was looking for. He pulled out a slightly crumpled piece of paper that was graced with pretty sloppy penmanship. KaiserGreymon squinted his eyes and turned his body to shield the paper from the sun as he tried to read it.

"Right. That isn't helping," he muttered to himself, tossing the paper back inside his bag. Instead he stepped out into the street and started walking down the road. He knew he was supposed to go to the city hall, but he wasn't sure where exactly that was. He assumed he'd find it if he followed this main road. KaiserGreymon wasn't the sort of Digimon to ask for directions.

So, he walked down the main street, making his way around various Digimon as he went. He made sure to keep a tight grip on his satchel; he didn't know what kind of city Hydra's Port was, but, just in case, he wanted avoid having his pocket picked. As the wide street curved to the left, KaiserGreymon followed it. He saw that this stretch of street was filled with shops as well. He reminded himself to check a few of them out after he received his job at the city hall.

KaiserGreymon continued walking down the street until he reached a junction. The street continued straight ahead, but it also branched off to the right. He turned his head and looked down the street. The road had a gradual decline. It seemed to go on for a long ways. At the very end, KaiserGreymon saw the shimmering water of the harbour.

Frowning, the dragon man looked back and forth between roads. He wasn't entirely sure which way would take him to the place he needed to be.

"Excuse me, sir?" a voice suddenly said from behind him.

KaiserGreymon turned around, looking towards the voice. Standing – in a manner of speaking – behind KaiserGreymon was a fish man in scuba gear, who was balancing using the fin and lower part of his tail. "Yeah?" the dragon brusquely asked the Depthmon.

"You look lost," the Depthmon observed, eyeing the tall dragon.

"I am _not_ lost," KaiserGreymon retorted. The armoured reptile turned around and looked down the two roads. "…I'm just trying to figure out the fastest route to the city hall."

"Oh, I can show you that," the marine Digimon told him. "I'm Depthmon, by the way."

"KaiserGreymon," he replied curtly, glancing over his shoulder. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Considering that I just lost my job, not really," Depthmon said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

"Were you sacked for annoying strangers, by any chance?" KaiserGreymon asked with some annoyance, trying to drop the hint.

"Actually, it was because pirates ambushed us and stole the cargo we were supposed to protect," the aquatic Digimon murmured.

KaiserGreymon couldn't help but turn around to look at him, suddenly interested in what Depthmon had to say. "Pirates?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Depthmon answered. "Why?"

"That's why I'm here to see the mayor, actually," KaiserGreymon responded. The dragon started walking down the road again. "I guess you can show me the way to the city hall, if only to save time."

The Depthmon smiled behind his mask. "Okay. Wait up!" he said, hopping after him down the stone street.

* * *

After about twenty minutes of walking, the two Digimon stopped in the middle of a busy square. In the middle of the square was a large, stone fountain. KaiserGreymon noticed a curious stone figure in the middle of the fountain. The statue was of a large serpent with – what looked like – a furry mane which had been meticulously carved, it seemed. The serpent had eight heads attacked to long necks sprouting out from the main body. The central head pointed straight upwards while the other seven heads branched out in different directions so that it seemed to cover all directions. From the mouth of each head jetted a gentle stream of water that poured back down into the pool of the fountain.

"So, is this it?" KaiserGreymon said, turning away from the fountain and towards a large building.

The two stood in front of a stone building that stood at the end of the square. It towered over most of the buildings in the city and it was as wide as the square. KaiserGreymon recognized the building from earlier by the large dome on its room. It definitely seemed like it was the city hall, given the intricate stone ornamentation decorating the building. The whole area reeked of importance.

"Yup. This is city hall," Depthmon replied, hopping up the stone stairs to the large wooden doors. "Come on. I'll show you where the mayor's office is."

"Right…" KaiserGreymon muttered, following Depthmon inside and looking around.

The first thing KaiserGreymon noticed was the shiny, marble floors of the lobby. On the other side of the vast lobby was a big set of stairs that lead to the higher floors.

"Fancy," he said to himself, walking past the front desk.

Before he could get any further, a large, black hound Digimon taller than he was stood in front of him. The dog had two black shoulder guards in the shape of canine heads. He shook his head to push his white hair back as he stared at KaiserGreymon with a scrutinizing look.

"Do you have an appointment?" the Cerberumon asked, raising an eyebrow and staring at KaiserGreymon suspiciously.

KaiserGreymon couldn't help but reply with a rebellious sneer. "The mayor's expecting me," he told the guard dog, folding his arms.

"Is he now…?"

"Yes. He is. Now, if you could move, I'd appreciate it," KaiserGreymon replied snappily, narrowing his eyes at the Digimon.

"It's okay, Cerberumon," Depthmon said, looking at the large canine. "This is the guy the mayor hired."

"…Fine. Okay," the hell hound digimon replied, giving KaiserGreymon a look but getting out of his way and walking over to the desk.

KaiserGreymon walked over to Depthmon. "Right. So, the mayor's upstairs, then?" he asked, passing him and heading up the stairs before the Digimon could answer.

"Yeah," Depthmon responded, following him and using the railing for support. Once they reached the top of the stairs, they found themselves in front of a long hallway. Depthmon took the lead and started heading down the torch-lit hall. KaiserGreymon followed him, looking around curiously at the various doors, side hallways, and the paintings on the wall.

Finally, he saw the fish creature stop in front of a set of double doors at the end of the long hallway. The doors were bigger than all the others, so KaiserGreymon assumed that this was the mayor's office. On the doorway was a metal plate inscribed with Digi-writing. It read 'Mayor's office'.

"Here it is," Depthmon said, turning to KaiserGreymon.

KaiserGreymon nodded. "Okay," he replied, walking forward putting his hand on the handle, starting to open the door. He stopped and looked over his shoulder at Depthmon. "Err… Good luck with finding another job."

Depthmon grinned a bit. "Thanks," he answered. "Good luck with yours. And don't underestimate those pirates, either."

"Alright," KaiserGreymon replied, somewhat dismissively. "Well, later."

"See ya, KaiserGreymon," Depthmon responded, hopping back down the hallway.

The dragon turned back to the doors and opened both of them, striding in. Upon entering, the first thing that he noticed was a large desk in front of a set of windows. The light from outside poured in, filling the office with sunlight. KaiserGreymon noticed two Digimon inside the room.

Standing over by a bookshelf that took up an entire wall, was a long, beige Digimon covered in a hard shell. He had the appearance of a cross between a scorpion and some sort of crustacean. He wasn't the most inviting Digimon based solely on his appearance. His body was covered with metal blades. There were blades on his two fins, his back, and the end of his long, poised tail, not to mention the rows of blades protruding from his flanks. Decorating his head were unique, red patterns, and also extending from his head were two long, tentacle-like mandibles.

When KaiserGreymon walked in, two black orbs, which protruded from his shell just above his blue eyes, turned towards the dragon. The Scorpiomon started turning at a wide angle to try and face KaiserGreymon.

KaiserGreymon took the opportunity to look at the other Digimon, who was sitting behind the desk. This Digimon was even longer than the Scorpiomon. He was definitely taller too. The Digimon had a long, white body that shimmered in the sunlight. He used four flippers that extended from his body to prop himself up. He had streaks of blue along the sides of his body, and two, long sash-like features protruded from his back. The most noticeable feature to KaiserGreymon was the Digimon's long neck that made him tower over KaiserGreymon. He had a reptilian head and a soft, white and orange mane. The Plesiomon looked up from the desk and eyed KaiserGreymon curiously.

The armoured dragon stopped in the middle of the room. He looked back at the Scorpiomon, who was now looking at him. He then turned back to the Plesiomon, who was the mega level between the two, and looked him in the eyes. "You must be the mayor," he said to the Plesiomon.

"_I'm_ the mayor!" the Scorpiomon yelled out, waving his flippers energetically.

KaiserGreymon blinked and turned to the Scorpiomon. "…You are?"

"Yes!"

The Plesiomon looked at KaiserGreymon with a slight grin. "My name is Plesiomon. I'm Scorpiomon's chief advisor," he explained calmly.

"I see…" KaiserGreymon murmured. He then turned to Mayor Scorpiomon. "Right. I'm KaiserGreymon."

The scorpion's expression immediately became one of pleasure. He rushed over to KaiserGreymon and shook his hand with one of his mandibles. "Oh! It's a pleasure to meet you, KaiserGreymon!"

"…Yeah…" he replied, awkwardly shaking the Digimon's mandible before letting go and pulling his hand back. "So. You sent me the Toucanmon messenger who gave me the job offer?"

"That's correct," Plesiomon replied for the mayor, floating over to Scorpiomon's side.

"And how did you know I was in Saversberg?" KaiserGreymon questioned, since he usually travelled from place to place, never staying it any one location for over three weeks unless a particular job called for it.

"We have our sources," Plesiomon replied with a mysterious smile.

"Right. Sure," KaiserGreymon replied dismissively. "But how do you know who I am? I mean, yes, I'm a Master of flames and I'm a pretty good fighter, if I do say so myself, but I'm not exactly well known. I've only been an adventurer for a year and a half, not counting my military service."

"Again, we have our sources," the advisor spoke, looking at KaiserGreymon. "We've heard about a couple of your exploits and we feel that you could very useful to us."

"Is that so…?" KaiserGreymon asked, sounding a little cagey.

"You seem capable and the fact that you're a Master is definitely a factor as well. While it's true that you're a Fire Master and you'll be in a very… aquatic environment, we think that you'll be an asset."

Scorpiomon nodded eagerly. "So will you please help us deal with this scourge we're facing?!" the Mayor pled.

KaiserGreymon folded his arms. "Well, I didn't come all this way to say no," he answered, looking at Mayor Scorpiomon.

By the look in Scorpiomon's eyes, KaiserGreymon could tell that he was beaming wherever his mouth was. "Thank you! Thank you for helping our city and our citizens! We knew we could count on a hero like you!"

KaiserGreymon winced and looked away. "Look, Scorpiomon. I'm just doing this for the money, okay? As long as you pay me, I'll do my best," he told him coldly.

"That won't be a problem," Advisor Plesiomon assured him.

"Good," KaiserGreymon said, looking back at them. "Now I'm going to need to know what exactly's going on and what you want me to do."

"Oh, forgive us," Plesiomon said, bowing his head slightly. "I guess that letter was a little vague, wasn't it?"

"A little," KaiserGreymon replied. "Something about a pirate problem?"

The advisor nodded. "That's right… Several months ago, a gang of pirates have started ambushing and threatening merchant convoys coming both to and from our city of Hydra's Port. At first, we thought it was a chance occurrence or maybe one of the hauliers were lying to cover up losing the shipment, but then the ambushes became more and more frequent."

"How frequent?" KaiserGreymon interjected.

"Weekly. Sometimes even more," Scorpiomon explained, scratching at the floor with the tip of his tail.

Plesiomon nodded. "As you can probably tell, Hydra's Port is a port."

"No, _really_," KaiserGreymon sarcastically said, looking at the Plesiomon blandly.

"Therefore, I'm sure you also can guess that a huge part of our city's economy is based on trade. These pirates are stealing all of our imports and exports. They're cutting off our trade routes and making it impossible to do any business by sea. Many of our business partners won't even trade with us anymore because they're too worried about the pirates stealing the shipments. Our city's coffers will be bled dry at this rate. We've tried putting out armed escorts, but the pirates are too strong for them," the advisor explained.

"So you want this pirate problem taken care of once and for all, then," KaiserGreymon surmised, looking at the Plesiomon. "Right. Consider it done. And my reward?"

"You'll get the exact amount that you were promised in the letter, but only when the pirates are finished. You can either arrest them or kill them; it doesn't matter to us as long as they're gone. We just care about getting money pouring back into the city," Plesiomon replied. "However, anything that you need to help you deal with the pirates will be paid for by the city. A boat, touch ups on your weapon and armour, anything as long as it's not unreasonable. You'll also be given living quarters in this building."

"That sounds fair," KaiserGreymon said, thinking to himself. "…So these pirates. Tell me more about them. Where can I find them?"

"According to eyewitness accounts, there have only been six Digimon at most on any single raid. However, what they lack in numbers, they make up for in strength and skill," Plesiomon explained, turning his long neck and looking out the window. "Their captain is very good."

"Captain?" the dragon asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

The Plesiomon nodded. "A Neptunemon, apparently."

"A Neptunemon…?" KaiserGreymon murmured to himself, having never heard of a Digimon species by that name.

"A rare, aquatic Mega level Digimon," Scorpiomon piped in.

"Are they all marine Digimon?" KaiserGreymon asked, knowing that pirates would have to be comfortable at sea.

"That we know of. Eyewitnesses confirm that there's a Sagomon, a Zudomon, a Tylomon, a Submarimon, and a Divermon," the aquatic advisor informed him.

"_Just great_," KaiserGreymon thought to himself. "Do you know where I can find them? All bandits have a base of operations."

"We don't, unfortunately. They launch their attacks some distance outside of the port. They've been getting closer as time goes on," the mayor explained.

"It's possible that they have a ship, but I can't say for certain. Since they're marine Digimon, they can launch their attacks just by swimming. They're smart; that's why the reward is as much as it is," Plesiomon explained calmly.

"If we find anything out about them, you'll be the first to know," Scorpiomon told him.

Plesiomon nodded in agreement. "Get yourself settled in, Mister KaiserGreymon. I know it was a long way from Saversberg. I'll get Toucanmon to show you to your room."

"'KaiserGreymon' is fine," KaiserGreymon responded quickly. He then frowned. "Toucanmon? The same Toucanmon who sent me your letter?"

"That's right," Scorpiomon said.

KaiserGreymon nodded. "Right. I'll do that. You can count on me to deal with these pirates, Mayor," the dragon told Plesiomon.

Plesiomon smiled sheepishly and glanced down at the crustacean beside him.

"…I'M THE MAYOR!" Mayor Scopriomon shouted from beside the Plesiomon, flailing his forelegs frantically.

KaiserGreymon rubbed the back of his neck with a hand. "…Right. My mistake. I'll go find the Toucanmon now," he replied, turning around and starting to walk quickly out of the office.

"Just a moment," Scorpiomon said. "You can swim, right, KaiserGreymon? Because you'll need to when fighting against these pirates."

The KaiserGreymon stopped in his tracks. "…Of course I can!" he replied defensively. He didn't leave any room for discussion as he left the room.

Mayor Scorpiomon sighed and turned to the tall aquatic Digimon. "Do you think he's the right Digimon for the job, Plesiomon?" he asked him.

"He's our best bet," the Plesiosaur responded. He craned his head to look out the window, admiring the view of the vast harbour of Hydra's Port. "…For now."

* * *

KaiserGreymon walked down a long, relatively dark hallway on one of the higher floors of the building. The whole floor seemed incredibly quiet except for the slow, methodic beating of wings in front of him.

Ahead of him was a small, round bird with black feathers, who flew at a leisurely pace down the hallway. Every time the toucan Digimon turned his head, KaiserGreymon could see its gigantic blue and yellow beak, which was almost as long as the birds whole body. He also had other unique features like a blue, mohawk-like crest, a red, broken egg around his lower body, and shoes of the same colour.

"Almost there," the Toucanmon told him in a sing song voice.

KaiserGreymon followed him, exhaling a tired sigh through his nostrils. If it was up to him, he would have been at his new room several minutes ago. He couldn't help but wonder if Toucanmon took this to deliver him the letter.

"Here we are," Toucanmon told him, stopping in front of a door that was near the end of the hallway. He took out a key from inside the eggshell and tossed it to KaiserGreymon, who quickly caught it. "That's for you."

"Err, yeah," was KaiserGreymon's only reply before nodding a bit.

"Let me know if you need anything. I do all sorts of things around here, so I'll probably be able to help," the bird told him with a smile.

"…I'll be fine on my own," KaiserGreymon told him, unlocking the door, opening it, and closing it behind him before Toucanmon could say anything else.

KaiserGreymon sighed a bit and looked up, getting a good look at his living quarters. It was a medium-sized room with stone floors and walls. The window on the opposite wall allowed a bit of light to shine in, but there were shutters that could be pushed over the window and locked to block out the light. Beneath the window was a large, inviting bed. The only other things in the room were a wooden desk, some sconces for torches, a bureau, and an armour rack.

Walking over to the side of the room, KaiserGreymon removed the Ryūgonken from its place on his back and gently propped it up against the wall. Next, he took off his gauntlets and tossed them onto the bed. He proceeded to slip out of his metal boots and remove his grieves. He took off his upper body armour and then pulled down the armour that covered his upper legs and waist.

Wearing only his undergarment, KaiserGreymon placed the armour over on the rack and then went to lie down on his bed, happy to have the weight of his armour removed. While he was used to wearing the heavy armour by now, whenever he removed it, he felt a strong sense of confidence, strength, and freedom, like he could run from one side of the continent to the next.

He sighed when he felt the softness of the mattress and bed sheets against his stiff and sore muscles. He was still exhausted from using Kuzuryūjin back during that fight with those bandits.

KaiserGreymon sighed and slowly removed his goggles, doing so with extreme care; he didn't want them getting hooked on the sharp tips of his horns. After taking them off, he placed them on the black scales of his chest and stared at them with sad, blue eyes.

"_Chasing after pirates_…" KaiserGreymon mused, still looking at his goggles. "_This wasn't the sort of thing I was expecting I would do, back when we were kids_…"

He gripped the black strap of the goggles a bit tighter as he grimaced with anger. "_Then again… there were many other things that I didn't expect to happen either_..."

Frowning, KaiserGreymon sat up and closed the window shutters, darkening the room considerably.

"_Well, I know what the world is like now_…" he thought to himself, lying back down on his bed. He pulled some of his clothes from his bag and used them to line the pillow for neck support. He placed his goggles around his neck for safe keeping and closed his eyes, hoping to get a few hours of much needed sleep.

* * *

The ocean's waves battered against the wet wood of a hull, sending cascades of mist shooting up as the waves broke. Resting on top of the water was a large ship that was as long and wide as a Whamon. The vessel was a multi-decked galleon made of sturdy yet buoyant wood.

The wooden ship stayed in place, just bobbing up and down lazily as waves passed under it. This was partly due to the two tall masts protruding from it, since their sails were let down to prevent the wind from blowing the craft. The ship's anchor was also lowered, hooked in the seabed to further stop any movement from the boat.

On the stern of the ship was a metal plate engraved with Digi-writing. It read: "The Abyss' Shadow". This was the name of the vessel.

"Easy… Easy…"

A Zudomon grunted as he hauled a giant crate up from a raft that was floating beside the ship. He stood on top of the ship's deck, gripping a rope attached to the crate tightly. The rope went through a simple pulley system that was fastened to the side of the deck, making it easier for him to lift the already heavy box out of the water and up onto the deck.

"Come on, Zudomon, put your ass into it!" the Tylomon pirate laughed as he watched from the sea below.

The brawny sea mammal dug his claws into the wood of the ship's deck and growled with effort, finally pulling the crate up. Zudomon panted and slowly walked over to the side of the deck. He hauled the box onto the deck before looking back down into the water. "I'd _love_ for you to grow some legs so you can actually do some _real_ work for a change, Tylomon," Zudomon snarled, glaring down at him. "Not only do I have to steer the ship, but I have to carry everything."

Floating around the shark Digimon were the Submarimon, Divermon and Sagomon, who had helped keep the raft and cargo steady. Tylomon laughed and looked over at the Submarimon. "Whatever. Come on, Submarimon. Let's go to the entrance," he said to the submarine Digimon.

"Yeah," she replied, swimming towards the front of the anchored ship alongside Tylomon.

The Divermon turned to the Sagomon, who climbed up on top of the raft. "Hey, Sagomon," he started, addressing him."Aren't you going with-"

Before he could finish, Sagomon propelled himself off of the raft with a powerful jump and gracefully landed on the top of the deck beside Zudomon.

"I wish I could do that…" the Divermon said to himself, rubbing the back of his head.

"Hey, Weiner!" Tylomon called out from near the ship's bow. "Hurry up or else you'll have to open the hatch all by yourself!"

Despite the fact that that wasn't his name, the Divermon turned his head on reflex. "My name's not Weiner!" he complained.

After sighing with annoyance, he swam to catch up with the two fish Digimon. Once there, the three dove underwater, swimming under the widely rounded hull of the ship until they reached the center. The Tylomon pirate swam over and grabbed a thick piece of drifting rope in his mouth. When he pulled the rope down, a wide hatch was pulled open, revealing a small set of stairs on the inside of the door.

Submarimon was the first to walk up the stairs, using her front fins to do so. The stairs led to a moon pool, which separated the ocean from an airtight and watertight room in the bottom of the ship's hull. Only a bit of the water spilled in, because of the pressure of the air in the room.

Submarimon crawled up through the moon pool and into the room. Divermon soon followed her, and they waited for Tylomon to do the same. The shark Digimon pulled himself up the stairs and into the wet, wooden floor of the room. Once, Tylomon was clear, Divermon grabbed the rope attached to the inside of the stairs. He started to try to pull the hatch back up and close the moon pool.

Meanwhile, Tylomon slide evolved from his shark-like form into a tall, red, tyrannosaurus-like Digimon. His white-hair was drenched with water, as were his red and white scales. He only used his Growlmon form when he had to move around out of water, but he much preferred swimming as a Tylomon, if he could help it.

Submarimon and the now-Growlmon turned to Divermon, who was huffing and puffing as he tried his best to pull the hatch up. His arm muscles trembled while tightly gripping the rope, but he was utterly failing; he was struggling to move the wood even an inch.

Growlmon rolled his eyes and walked over, snatching the rope from the Divermon. "You're hopeless, Weiner," the dinosaur told him. He heaved the hatch up with ease, sealing the moon pool and embarrassing Divermon greatly. "How can my Growlmon form be stronger than you when you're an Ultimate level?"

Divermon blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "You exercise…?"

"I think it's more that _you don't_," Submarimon told him, walking over to the door at the side of the room. "Let's get above deck and see what we've found."

Growlmon nodded and opened the door, walking out into the hallway. The three pirates walked down the wide hallway. Once at the end of the hall, they went up a few sets of stairs until they found themselves on the main deck of the ship. There, they found Captain Neptunemon and Sagomon watching as Zudomon used his giant hammer to try and work open the box.

"I've almost got it!" the huge walrus digimon said, continuing to hammer on the crate.

Sagomon looked over at the captain. "Do you think it'll be valuable this time, Captain?" he asked him.

Neptunemon didn't respond. He was too busy looking over the port of the ship, towards the water. He had a serious expression plastered on his fearsome face.

"…Neptunemon?" Sagomon asked, suddenly becoming concerned. He turned towards the left side of the ship as well.

"There's something coming…" Neptunemon murmured to his crew.

"What?" Zudomon asked, ceasing his hammering. "We haven't been found have we?!"

The three pirates who just arrived turned to see what they were looking at. "I don't like this…" Divermon mumbled to himself.

Neptunemon gripped his King's Bite trident and slithered over to the railing of the ship. He stared down at the water, scanning it carefully with his eyes. The only thing in sight was the large raft, sloshing around and bobbing up and down over the small waves. Nevertheless, he looked around astutely.

Sagomon walked up beside him. The second-in-command watched the ocean as well, attempting to see what Neptunemon was sensing. He raised the band that was over part of his face, and his sharp eyes darted back and forth as he looked around.

"I don't see anything, Captain," Zudomon said, bending over the railing while holding his hammer at the ready.

Growlmon glanced over at the Zudomon. "That's because-"

The dinosaur was cut off by a loud splash on the opposite side of the boat.

"Captain!" Submarimon shouted in shock, looking at the starboard side of the ship.

The crew turned around to see a geyser of water explode into the air. The sea water poured over the deck in the form of thousands of droplets. All of the pirates tensed up and readied themselves to attack, except for Divermon, who hid behind Zudomon's shell.

Within the blast of water, something long could be seen starting to emerge from the glimmering cascade. A giant, serpent-like head protruded from the geyser from about twenty feet above the deck. Water coated its long, golden, metallic snout, and dripped from what looked like a cannon for a nose. The sea serpent had a menacing visage, boasting rows of jagged teeth that lined his mouth, and a giant, bladed fin protruding from his head.

As the water fell, the Digimon's body could be seen more fully. His wet, dark grey hair matted the back of his neck, which seemed to go on a very long ways. In fact, his whole body was that of a giant snake. His grey scales were coated with more gold armour. It lined his massive serpentine body and his long, powerful fins, which seemed to have two auxiliary claws protruding from them. Neptunemon worried that if he landed on the Abyss' Shadow, he'd split the boat in two.

Luckily, it looked as though the MetalSeadramon was ascending, not descending. He continued to burst into the air, showing off the dorsal blades running intermittently down his body. He arced, like a rainbow, over the ship, and dove into the water off the port side, inadvertently splashing the pirates. The last thing they saw of him before he submerged completely were the diamond-shaped tips of his two tails, which branched off from his main body like a long 'Y'.

He disappeared under the water once again. A few tense moments passed. Neptunemon seemed to be contemplating diving in after him, but he knew that the MetalSeadramon would be long enough to coil around the galleon at least two times.

Finally, the MetalSeadramon emerged from the water below them, more slowly this time. He reared up in the water, rising to their eye levels. While doing so, he stared at them quietly.

Neptunemon, Sagomon, and Zudomon all gripped their weapons tightly, while Growlmon and Submarimon prepared their own attacks.

"H-He's… huge…" Divermon whimpered, his eyes wide like full moons as he stared at the sea dragon.

"Who are you?!" Neptunemon demanded, raising his trident and pointing it at the MetalSeadramon to show him that he meant business.

The sea dragon didn't reply. The only noise that could be heard from him was the sound of salt water trickling off his snout and hair and falling to the ground. His crimson eyes scanned the crew, slowly looking at each one of them individually.

Neptunemon hissed through his clenched teeth. He eyed the MetalSeadramon's body for weak points, as he felt more and more inclined to attack this Digimon purely out of self-defence. "Do you have water in your ears?" the captain asked harshly. "Tell me who you are or else I'll gut you from end to end! Are you a bounty hunter from Hydra's Port?!"

"My name is MetalSeadramon," the MetalSeadramon finally spoke, his voice deep and booming, yet managing to sound calm. He tilted his head downwards, looking at the trident in Neptunemon's hand. "And you don't have to point that at me; I'm a different sort of hunter…"

"What sort of hunter's _that_?" Neptunemon asked, narrowing his eyes with trepidation and mistrust. Despite the Digimon's dissuading words, he knew better than to lower his weapon.

MetalSeadramon looked at the pirate captain. He saw the hostility in the fish man's eyes and slowly turned his gaze over to the large box resting on the deck of the ship. "_That's_ closer to my prey, actually," MetalSeadramon answered, referencing the box with the look in his eyes.

Neptunemon turned his head slightly and glanced over his shoulder. "Our loot?" he asked, looking back and glaring at the huge sea dragon. "You're saying you're after our haul?!"

"You'll have to go through us, eel," Sagomon barked coldly, poising the Kouyouhoujou staff in his hand and preparing to jump into action.

"I'm not in the business of attacking fellow pirates," MetalSeadramon answered. He turned his head and looked at them with a glint in his eyes. "…Generally-speaking," he added with a touch of levity in his voice.

"So you _are_ a pirate…" Neptunemon spoke, sounding a bit less hostile and tense. His grip slackened on the King's Bite and he allowed himself to lower it slightly.

"_I've_ never heard of you," Sagomon said, still leering at MetalSeadramon. He kept his weapon exactly where it was and he refused to lower his guard even for a second.

"I've managed to stay relatively undetected. Despite my size, I'm quite good at swimming close to the seabed, as the saying goes," MetalSeadramon  
responded, turning to Sagomon. "Plus, it helps to have more notorious pirates such as Captain Neptunemon and the crew of the Abyss' Shadow to draw attention away from myself."

"You've heard of us?" Zudomon asked with surprise. He placed his hammer down on the deck and folded his arms.

MetalSeadramon nodded. "You've been covering the trade routes around this area, right?" he questioned, eyeing Neptunemon in particular. "I couldn't help but noticed that most of the merchant convoys around here have armed escorts now. Your lot's doing?"

Neptunemon pulled up his trident and rested it on his shoulder. "Look, 'MetalSeadramon', right? It's not my problem if you're having a tough time because of our raids. I only care about myself and my crew here."

Growlmon placed his clawed hands on his hips and stared at MetalSeadramon. "Besides, it doesn't look like a big guy like you'd have any trouble with the armed escorts if they're anything like the ones we met," he pointed out.

"They're no trouble for me," the sea serpent admitted. He closed his eyes and looked as if he was thinking. "But things are going to escalate. The Digimon of Hydra's Port are going to start getting more aggressive the more desperate they get. It was unguarded merchant convoys before, but now it's armed escorts. Now that they know that that's not working, they're going to take greater measures to stop us. Maybe they'll start hiring Digimon to get rid of us, like what you thought I was here to do."

"What's your point?" Sagomon hissed, leering at the sea serpent with a never-fading glare.

"Yeah, why are you here, exactly?" Submarimon wondered, looking at MetalSeadramon curiously.

"I was getting to that," MetalSeadramon said with an unruffled expression on his face in response to the adversity. "I think it would be in all of our interests if I joined you."

"Join us?" Neptunemon asked. His wide eyes reflected how taken off guard he was by this.

"You have to be joking," Sagomon said, narrowing his eyes.

"I don't think he can fit on the ship," Divermon whispered to Zudomon.

The massive sea dragon grinned a bit, looking over at Divermon, who suddenly became intimidated and hid behind the Zudomon again. "I'd be fine underwater, thanks," he told him. He then turned to the Sagomon, staring at him with an unflinching gaze. "And I'm completely serious."

Neptunemon leaned forwards on the railing of the ship, stretching the fish-like part of his body behind him while looking up at MetalSeadramon. "So humour me, sea snake. How would you joining us be in our best interests?" he asked, looking at him inquisitively. "What do you bring to us that compensates for dividing the loot into sevenths rather than sixths? …That is, assuming you work alone, right?"

MetalSeadramon nodded. "I do work alone. As for what I can offer… My size, for one," he explained.

"That means a crap-load more fish for me to catch," Growlmon said, sneering and folding his arms indignantly.

"I can hunt for myself," the sea serpent told him reassuringly. He locked his red eyes with Neptunemon. "I'm a mega level Digimon. A very skilled one, if I do say so myself. I'm a well of sheer destructive power, and you'll need that if you want to adapt to whatever the city of Hydra's Port is planning. They _need_ money to pour into the city again and this'll make them more willing to take drastic steps against us. We should combine our strength to ensure our survival."

"Hmm…" Neptunemon hummed, frowning to himself and looking down in thought.

"Plus, it'd be better for all of us to just share our loot instead of having to worry about competing for it," MetalSeadramon explained. He let his words linger for a few moments.

"We've never had to worry about competition before," Sagomon told him defensively.

"I wasn't here before," MetalSeadramon answered. "I used to work further down the coast, but shipping activity stopped down there because they're worried about all the pirate activity. But I still need to support myself, and it'd be easier if we didn't have to get in each other's way."

Sagomon sneered at him. He didn't like the implications of the pirate's words one bit.

"And what do you get out of this?" Neptunemon wondered, standing up straight again.

"Aside from what I said already, safety in numbers," MetalSeadramon replied. "I may be big and have a lot of firepower, but I'm not invincible. I don't know what Hydra's Port – and even their allies too – are capable of."

The Neptunemon closed his eyes and exhaled, pondering everything the MetalSeadramon said. After several long moments, Neptunemon opened his eyes and handed his trident to Sagomon. "You have a very intriguing offer, MetalSeadramon. I'm very tempted, but can we trust you?" he wondered, looking him in the eyes with intense scrutiny.

"With your lives," MetalSeadramon responded, returning the stare with an honest look in his big, red eyes.

"Actions speak louder than words," Neptunemon told him with a small but toothy grin.

"Anything that I need to do to prove it…" he said to the Captain.

Neptunemon nodded. "I'd like to have you on board… figuratively, of course," he said with a grin. "But the decision isn't up to just me." The fish man turned to his crew. "Well? We're putting it to a vote. Yay or nay for MetalSeadramon joining us!"

"Yay!" Divermon responded, perhaps a little too quickly. Divermon much rather wanted to be on the giant dragon's good side, rather than his bad side.

"I'm with Weiner," Zudomon said, folding his arms and looking at MetalSeadramon. "I trust 'im. So, yay."

"I-It's 'Divermon'!" Divermon responded frantically, blushing and swiftly glancing at the huge MetalSeadramon nervously.

Growlmon grunted out a small flame from his mouth as if spitting. "As long as I don't have to hunt for 'im, I say yay."

"Yay," Submarimon concurred, looking at MetalSeadramon carefully. "I think he'll be useful."

Sagomon grimaced and had to stop himself from growling. He didn't like this MetalSeadramon Digimon and he certainly didn't trust him. It was five votes against his. However, it was already a majority and he didn't want to be the lone dissenter. The Sagomon gave MetalSeadramon a long, cold, indignant glare.

"…Yay…" he spoke against his better judgement, though his reluctance still showed in his tone.

Neptunemon smiled and patted Sagomon's shoulder before turning to MetalSeadramon. "There you have it."

The Neptunemon outstretched his hand over the railing, offering it to the MetalSeadramon for a handshake. "Welcome to the crew of the Abyss' Shadow, MetalSeadramon. I look forward to seeing what you can do for us."

MetalSeadramon outstretched his long flipper slowly, reaching towards Neptunemon and allowing the Mega level Deep Saver to grab the end of it. MetalSeadramon closed his two claws around Neptunemon's hand to try to return the handshake.

"Thank you…" he told him with a small yet genuine smile. "I'll make sure that we're a force to be reckoned with."


	3. Part 2: A Budding Partnership

**Part 2: A Budding Partnership**

It was a beautiful sight to behold. The setting sun blazed intensely, casting a deep, orange light across the grassy landscape.

A medium-sized village of about three or four hundred huts and houses rested peacefully as the day came to a close. Long fields of grass surrounded the town of Blazemouth on all sides, with the occasional giant tree sprouting up from the ground. The sun's orange rays glanced off the buildings, accentuating their features with a warm glow. They also cast a multitude of long shadows towards the darkening sky and helped to warm the cool wind of the early evening. That soft breeze swept across the blades of grass, blowing them gently in its wake.

All was peaceful… for the most part.

A short, yellow-scaled dinosaur digimon walked down a dirt path. The young digimon readjusted the red bag that was slung over his shoulder. It was the same shade of red as the belts that were fitted around each of the wrists and ran between his three claws. This digimon was called Agumon.

He hadn't been allowed to leave school until late in the afternoon. His teacher made him stay in detention for being distracting and lippy in class again. Agumon was already trying to think of what excuse he could tell his dad for his lateness. Maybe playing soccer with some schoolmates would work, he thought.

Agumon stepped off the path and plodded across the grass, past a non-uniform row of numerous wooden huts; some were quite large and some were smaller. He gripped the bag's strap tightly and continued walking, heading for his house which was still some distance away.

"P-please stop it!" a voice cried out. It sounded like it had a regional accent, much like the dinosaur digimon's.

Agumon stopped in tracks upon hearing the shout. He looked around him but saw only houses. He thought he heard the voice somewhere ahead of him, but he couldn't really tell due to the strong orange rays of sun shining in his eyes. He was forced to squint, but he knew that there was a small field past the final hut on the left side of the path. He often played soccer there.

He decided to ignore the shout. It was probably just the wind or something, he reasoned. He gripped his bag's strap tightly and continued walking, heading for his house. The fact that he would have to pass the field to get to his house didn't escape him though.

"Please!" the high voice cried again, sounding as if it was on the brink of tears. "Stop! I didn't - AGH – d-d-do anything to you guys!"

The yellow dragon digimon winced, his heartbeat starting to speed up. Agumon continued walking past the huts and across the grass. Up on his left was the small clearing between the huts, growing nearer with each step. He couldn't help but be curious, if not a bit nervous, at what the voices were saying. It didn't sound good though. However, the reptile had no choice but to keep walking towards it.

Agumon passed the final hut before the clearing, allowing him to finally look into the pitch. Although it was bright with the setting sun, in the center of the small field he could spot four figures. He squinted his blue eyes to try to get a better look at who they were. The most noticeable ones were three grey-furred, long-eared, bipedal digimon who all looked more or less similar, kind of like rabbit-eared hyenas. He recognized them as Gazimon, one looked like the one from his grade, and he thought he remembered the other two from the class above him. They seemed to be standing around the fourth figure. It looked like they were surrounding a different looking digimon.

In the center of the group was a scared, blue dragon digimon. As Agumon walked, he could see that there were dirt and grass stains all over the Dracomon's teal scales and white underbelly. He also noticed a pair of blue goggles around the dragon's head, resting on his forehead just below his red horns.

On further inspection, Agumon realized that one of the Gazimon had the Dracomon in a hold, restraining his arms behind his back, near the dragon's tiny red wings. The dinosaur digimon let out a gasp when he watched one of the remaining two Gazimon cuff the Dracomon across the face with a solid punch to the side of his snout.

"P-Please..." the dragon digimon snivelled miserably, his teary eyes wincing in pain as he felt blood trickle out of his nostrils.

"Are you kidding, you little git? This is way too much fun!" one of the Gazimon kids laughed.

Agumon grimaced and continued walking past the clearing, hoping to make it to the other side unnoticed. He felt bad for the hapless Dracomon, but the last thing the boy wanted to do was get involved. After all, he didn't know the Dracomon and there were three of the bullies against only one of him. There was no reason why he should get involved, he felt.

"_Poor guy..._" Agumon thought to himself sadly, looking down with guilt. "_But... I can't do anything. They would just do the same to me._"

"Hahah! What's with these stupid goggles?" one of the Gazimon laughed, pulling the accessory and then letting go so that the goggles snapped back and hit the Dracomon's head. "Do you think they look cool or something?"

The other digimon who wasn't holding the young dragon drilled his fist into the Dracomon's white underbelly. The Dracomon's red eyes widened and he coughed, winded by the blow. He grimaced hard and slumped forward slightly, trying to double over with pain. He looked as if he wished he could curl up into a ball and hide.

"Just let… me go..." the Dracomon sobbed, tears now streaming down his face. "Please! What did I ever do to you guys?"

The gray rabbit digimon restraining the Dracomon grinned and looked up. His sharp eyes spotted Agumon, who was about halfway across from one end of the path beside the field to the other. "Hey, guys, we have a guest. Another runt."

Agumon's heart jumped a bit when he realized he'd been spotted. He quickly looked up at them nervously.

The Gazimon on the right then slugged the Dracomon across the face with the blunt side of his claws and turned around to look at the dinosaur digimon. "What are you looking at, idiot? You want to come over here and get the snot kicked out've you too?" he asked him.

Agumon grimaced and turned, beginning to walk away from the scene as quickly as he could. "_It's not your fight... You don't have to get involved. There's nothing you can do..._" he told himself, walking faster.

"Yeah, you'd better get out of here, wimp!" one of the Gazimon called to him. "And don't even think about snitching!"

The Dracomon weakly raised his head only for a fist to slam into his snout again. The dragon's knees weakly buckled and he sobbed harder.

Agumon shut his eyes tightly and tried to make it to the other side of the clearing. "_Right. Just ignore it... You'll only get hurt if you go over there. Why should you go and help him? It wouldn't make sense,_" he thought to himself. "_Do you want to get beat up too?_"

"Hahah! The stupid baby dragon can't even handle a few punches!" a Gazimon laughed.

After a few more steps, he forced himself to open his eyes and glance over his shoulder. He stared at the Dracomon with apologetic eyes. He saw that the dragon was barely able to keep himself standing. The scales on his face were moist with tears and blood.

Agumon grimaced harder. His arms and legs trembled but he had stopped walking. He stood, staring at his feet. Suddenly, his bag fell to the ground beside him.

"Maybe his reverse scale is _here_!" one of the Gazimon laughed, driving his fist into the Dracomon's side, eliciting a sharp cry from the dragon.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

The Gazimon who had just delivered the blow turned around to see Agumon charging at them with a furious look in his eyes. Before he could react, the Gazimon felt the dinosaur's belt-braced claws slug him across his face and send him flying to the ground.

"H-Hey! You bloody little runt!" the Gazimon who was holding the goggled Dracomon said as he released the dragon to deal with the Agumon.

The other Gazimon grabbed the yellow reptile's shoulder and pounded his fist into the end of the digimon's snout. Agumon let out a cry of pain and staggered backwards. He cringed from the pain and the corners of his eyes watered up. Suddenly, a small stream of blood leaked down from his nostrils, but he raised his arm to wipe it away on the belt.

"I said… 'Leave. Him. Alone'," he growled, pointing to the Dracomon. The collapsed dragon digimon sniffled and looked up at his unlikely saviour with shocked but grateful eyes.

"Bug off, loser! This has nothing to do with you!" one of the Gazimon snarled in reply.

"I don't care! This doesn't have anything to do with _him_ either!" Agumon shot back passionately. "You're hurting him for no good reason! He said he didn't do anything to you and I believe him! You lot are nothing but a bunch of bullies and cowards; you're ganging up on him three-to-one and he doesn't even want to fight back!"

The Gazimon he punched down scrambled over and grabbed him by the neck. "What are you trying to be?! Some kind of hero?!" the fox digimon yelled, glaring into his eyes angrily.

"No!" Agumon replied fierily. "But I know when something's not right! And if you want to pick on him, then you have to pick on _me_ too! Pepper Breath!"

His mouth filled with flames and he released a fireball at the digimon holding him, sending him staggering backwards to dodge it. One of the other Gazimon then charged him. Agumon felt the Gazimon's fist uppercut him, nearly knocking him off his feet, but he soon retaliated with a punch of his own, causing the beast digimon to stumble and trip backwards over the felled Dracomon.

The Agumon looked over at the Dracomon, who was still very teary eyed but looking at him with respect. "Come on, then. Aren't you going to help me?" he asked the scared dragon.

The dragon grimaced as he saw the third Gazimon charge the Agumon. "I'm too weak... and frightened..." he whimpered.

Agumon sneered and readied his claws at the Gazimon that was running at him. "You're not," he said to the Dracomon, glancing at him meaningfully out of the corner of his eye. "You're no more weak or frightened than I am..."

The Dracomon grimaced. "But I- look out!" the dragon shouted, seeing a Gazimon come up behind Agumon.

The yellow reptile was about to turn when he felt an arm close tightly around his neck and another grab one of his arms, putting him in a headlock. "Now!" the Gazimon shouted to his charging friend.

Agumon grimaced and closed his eyes as his enemy closed in on him. This wasn't good. He waited nervously for the oncoming pain.

It was then that the goggle-wearing Dracomon scrambled towards the running Gazimon and swung his tail. "Tail Smash!" he shouted, slamming the limb into the Gazimon's ankles. The bully let out a cry as he found himself falling face first into Agumon's bent knee. The Gazimon fell to the grass and clutched his face with pain.

The dinosaur then grinned victoriously and drove his free arm back. He elbowed his attacker hard with his arm and sent the Gazimon backwards, forced to release the reptile digimon. Then Agumon decked him with another punch to the face.

"C-crud. Forget these losers! Let's get out of here," one of the Gazimon called to his friends. The two other beaten Gazimon scrambled to their feet and quickly followed their friend. Clutching their injuries, they took off running. They soon disappeared behind the hut that was over on the left corner of the path.

Agumon panted and fell on his backside, breathing heavily. His snout felt numb with throbbing pain and he could taste the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. Despite his grimace and his trembling limbs, he looked over at the badly beaten up Dracomon, who was lying with his chest to the ground. "Hey... Are you alright?" he asked.

The Dracomon flushed a bit and wiped the remaining tears and snot from his face. He looked over at him and offered a small, grateful smile. "Y-yes..." he said meekly, despite the fact that he was in a lot of pain. He wanted to put on a brave face for the Agumon who just came to his rescue.

After standing to his feet, Agumon made his way over to him and offered his claws. The dragon took them and pulled himself to a sitting position. "You really took a walloping..." he said to the dragon.

"...It would have been a lot worse if it weren't for you," the Dracomon said, looking down glumly. "This isn't the first time they've bullied me."

A growl escaped Agumon's mouth. "That isn't right..." he whispered to himself.

It was then that he noticed the Dracomon remove the blue goggles from his head. "Thank you so much for coming to help me... You didn't have to do it, but you did. Even when they punched you too. I know it's not much, but... I want you to have these." The Dracomon outstretched his claws and offered the Agumon his goggles. "They're not worth very much, but… they're really important to me. It's for thanks for helping me."

Agumon blinked and looked down at them in surprise. "...I can't take these," he said, gently pushing them back towards the Dracomon "Thanks for offering... but I can't."

"Why not?" the dragon asked, tilting his head. "You were like a hero!"

Agumon shook his head and looked towards the setting sun. "I'm not like a hero... I almost didn't come over here. No, I didn't want to. I don't even know _why_ I did... This had nothing to do with me, but..."

"But…?" the Dracomon questioned, looking at him curiously.

"Seeing you all beat up... It made me so angry. It wasn't right... I could feel it. I don't know why, but... I ran over here even though I knew I couldn't do anything," Agumon replied. He looked away with some shame in his blue eyes. "If I were a hero, I wouldn't have almost turned my back on you and ran off. I was frightened I would be beat up as well."

The dragon smiled a little. "But you _didn't_ run away... You sound like a hero to me. It doesn't matter what you were going to do; all that matters is what you _did_ do. You did what was right, even though it seemed like it wouldn't work. And you helped somebody weaker than you, even though you knew you were outmatched. Isn't that what being a hero means...?" the dragon said, offering his goggles again.

"But I'm... not," Agumon insisted, staring down at the goggles. "And what do you mean you're weaker than me? You took down one of those Gazimon on your own and saved my tail!"

The Dracomon blushed with embarrassment and looked down. "I... I just didn't want you to get hurt for helping me."

Agumon smiled and outstretched his claw. "What's your name, anyways?" he asked. "…Wait, aren't you the quiet kid who sits on the other side of class from me?"

The Dracomon sniffed, smiled, and shook his claws with his own. "Y-…Yeah. My name's Dracomon. I thought you looked familiar. You're the one who's always getting detentions, aren't you?"

"Err… I guess so. Yeah. I'm Agumon," the Agumon replied, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. He looked down at the goggles again. "...You still want to give me those goggles?"

"Yes. It's the least I can do..." Dracomon answered.

Agumon frowned with thought. "…Right, then. I won't take them as a reward, but... I'll take them as a gift from one friend to another, okay?" he asked, smiling happily.

"Fr... 'Friend'?" Dracomon asked, looking at him with surprised red eyes.

Agumon nodded and smiled. "Yeah! You and I can be mates, right?"

A smile slowly grew on Dracomon's swollen face. "Y-...Yeah!" he replied enthusiastically.

Agumon laughed a bit and tried to place the goggles onto his head. "Rrrgh... It doesn't quite fit... I might need to get these fixed so I can get them on my big head. That alright, Draco?"

Dracomon grinned and nodded. "Yeah. And... thank you, Agumon."

The lizard digimon smiled at him. "Don't mention it. Who dares, wins."

* * *

KaiserGreymon's eyelids snapped open. His pupils shrunk slightly and the cool, blue hue of his eyes glistened as he looked around, trying to get his bearings. He let out a cross between a growl and a groan as the veil of sleep faded and he realized he was dreaming. KaiserGreymon's muscles slackened and he released a long breath.

As he sat up in the bed, the sheets dropped from his shoulders to his lap. He arched his legs and rested his arms on his bent knees, leaning forwards and looking down. He could see his goggles swaying in front of him from their place hanging around his neck.

"A dream…" he muttered, looking down at the goggles that Dracomon gave to him that day.

He then looked up, taking in his surroundings. The room was completely dark. He could barely see the other side of the room, and with his black scales, he was sure he blended right into the darkness. KaiserGreymon reached over and pulled the shutters open roughly. After leaning over to the window, he could clearly see that the sky was filled with stars. From his view, he could see one of the Digital World's moons' reflections in the water of the harbour. That moon painted the city with a low, pale blue, illuminating the darkness and making KaiserGreymon's job easier.

As he hoped, his nap only lasted until the night. The city was now mostly cleared of civilians, so he wouldn't have to shove through crowds or anything else irritating.

KaiserGreymon turned and let his legs drop off the side of the bed. He raised his hand in front of himself and splayed out his fingers. Suddenly, a flame ignited in his palm and lit the room up with a strong orange light. The dragon then extended his arm and shot the fire bolt at one of the torches fixed to the wall. The torch erupted with flames and flickered brightly, illuminating the room better. Once that was done, he flicked his wrist and extinguished the residual flames in his palm.

With a deep growl, he stood up and stretched, arching his back, flexing his muscles and spreading his limbs out. He heard several satisfying popping sounds from his back, legs, and arms. KaiserGreymon then slackened. His muscles felt much better than they did earlier. They were looser and he felt ready for action.

"Right, then. Time to get dressed and then go wander about the city. I should get acquainted with the place before I start looking for those pirates," he told himself. "First thing they taught you in the military was to know your battlefield."

The half-naked KaiserGreymon walked over to the armour rack and pulled on his leggings. "Besides, if the pirates _do_ linger around Hydra's Port, the time they'd move around is during the night. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll run into one 'er more of them," he muttered, his voice reverberating inside his chest armour as he held it in front of himself, getting ready to fasten it around his upper body.

After several minutes, KaiserGreymon finished armouring himself. It always took longer than he liked, having to deal with those fasteners. He decided to wear his armour instead of his clothes on this excursion. While he was initially going to just wear his clothes since he didn't expect he'd need his armour and weapons, he decided to go prepared, just in case he did come across anybody.

Lastly, KaiserGreymon pulled his goggles up from his neck to his forehead, letting them rest on his orange helmet. He walked over to the wall and took the Ryūgonken, lifting the heavy blade up and placing it on his back.

"I'll have to get you sharpened tomorrow, mate," he said, looking over his shoulder at the broadsword. "In fact, everything could do with some furnishing. I'd might as well take advantage of the Mayor paying the full expenses and all that."

KaiserGreymon went over to the door, creaking open the sturdy slab of wood. "Right. Well. Let's go, then," he muttered to himself. He walked out of his room and locked the door behind him. After placing his key in one of his boots for safe keeping, he started walking down the hall.

"Time to see what this Hydra's Port is all about."

* * *

MetalSeadramon's long body cut through the water as he swam. The water was as dark as the night sky overhead. Only the moon served as a lantern to guide him; its rays of light beamed down, beneath the waves, before fading amidst the dark abyss below. This didn't bother the sea dragon since his finely tuned instincts were the only compass that he needed for undersea travel.

As he darted under the waves, he allowed himself to raise his head up. The fin-like blade on his helmet was the first to emerge, slicing through the water. Then, the top half of his head appeared, seeming to skim along the relatively calm sea as he went. His red eyes glistened in the moonlight when he stared ahead.

He could see it. The mouth of Hydra's Port's harbour. It was the entrance that lead inwards to a much wider bay that the city was built around. It was in there where Hydra's Port's harbour and ports resided.

Neptunemon's words to him from before he left for the mission still echoed in his mind.

* * *

_Captain Neptunemon was poised at the bow of the docked galleon. Behind him stood Sagomon, along with the rest of the crew. They all observed their captain as he stared at MetalSeadramon, who was reared up in front of the ship._

_"So," MetalSeadramon began, "Is it time for me to prove my worth?"_

_"Your worth and your trustworthiness, yes," Neptunemon responded, folding his arms._

_"Whatever you want me to do, Captain," he replied, sounding eager to prove himself._

_"Just call me Neptunemon," Neptunemon replied. "I've had enough trouble trying to get these guys to stop calling me 'Captain'."_

_MetalSeadramon nodded. "Neptunemon, then."_

_The Neptunemon smirked. "Good. So you want to prove yourself? Then do this for me," he told him. "Go and swim to Hydra's Port's harbour and have a look around. Scout out the area for us; see what you can see. It's night time so you probably won't be noticed even with your size."_

_MetalSeadramon looked at the pirate captain curiously. "Scouting? That's all?" he asked._

_"Not good enough for you?" Sagomon asked, folding his arms and looking at him with his usual sneer._

_"It's fine with me," MetalSeadramon replied, eyeing him for a moment. "I suppose I just expected something… more challenging."_

_Neptunemon laughed. "I admire your go-getterness, but I'm a practical digimon. This is less about you proving yourself and more about needing you to get a feel for the city for us," he explained._

_"Why him and not Tylomon or someone?" Submarimon asked, frowning her eyes questioningly. "He's not exactly inconspicuous."_

_"Isn't he?" Neptunemon retorted. "He may be a giant eyesore, yeah, but he's new around here. We're all probably wanted digimon in Hydra's Port by now." The fish man turned to the new member of his crew. "You haven't done anything that would get you noticed by the authorities around here, have you?"_

_MetalSeadramon shook his head. "It's safe to say that I'm a nobody," he answered. "So that's why you want me to scout: because as far as any witnesses go, I'm just a passerby looking for a place to stay." _

_Neptunemon nodded. "Just scope the place out and keep your snout out of trouble. We don't want to reveal our trump card just yet."_

_"I understand," MetalSeadramon replied, turning around and beginning to sink into the surf. "I won't disappoint you."_

* * *

MetalSeadramon slowed his swimming and began to ascend as he reached the mouth of the bay. He stopped in his place and looked around the area carefully. Though the moon was more than enough to light the way tonight, he eyed two lighthouses on opposite ends of the coastline, both at the edges of the wide mouth of the harbour. Their tips were lit up with giant flames which signalled to marine digimon and vessels that land was near. A few buildings around the edge of the harbour and the inland parts of the city were dotted with dim orange lights as well.

"Well, this should be simple. Let's go see what's inside," he breathed, diving back underwater but swimming close to the surface. With his form skimming the water, he darted forwards and entered the harbour.

* * *

With a light push, KaiserGreymon opened the door to the front entrance of city hall. He stepped out of the marble lobby onto the outside steps of the building. After swinging the door closed with a flick of his wrist, he proceeded down the stone steps to the courtyard.

KaiserGreymon barely recognised the courtyard. It looked so different when it wasn't flooded with digimon of all shapes and sizes. It was so empty now. Empty and quiet, almost eerily so.

He started walking onto the wide courtyard until he heard a voice behind him.

"Going somewhere?" a voice asked.

KaiserGreymon bristled and looked over his shoulder. Standing in the entrance of the city hall and looking at him was the guard he met yesterday. Cerberu. He couldn't help but feel like the hell hound digimon didn't trust him.

"What does it look like?" KaiserGreymon responded defensively

"Where?" Cerberumon asked, eyeing him.

The dragon gritted his teeth, beginning to get annoyed. "I'm going to get a start on my job, if you must know," he replied brusquely. He turned and looked at the Cerberumon. "Did you need to be let out or something?"

Cerberumon narrowed his eyes and walked down the stairs. "I'm on night watch," he replied.

"Great. Terrific," KaiserGreymon said offhandedly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a job to do." With that, he started walking across the courtyard.

To his irritation, Cerberumon walked up beside him. "Why are you going out at this time of night, exactly?"

"Look, if you have something to say, go on and say it," KaiserGreymon said to him with a slight growl. He was quite annoyed at what felt like an inquisition.

"I'm just curious," Cerberumon responded. "No need to be so defensive. It's my job to be suspicious of new faces."

KaiserGreymon grunted. "Yeah, fine. Alright. I guess you have to be this jerkish guard dog all the time, don't you?"

The cerberus closed his eyes and seemed to try not to be too annoyed in response. "I guess…?" He glanced over at KaiserGreymon. "Your accent. You're foreign, aren't you?"

The KaiserGreymon rubbed at his throat. "My accent? I guess so, yeah. I come from… abroad," KaiserGreymon answered. He returned the Cerberumon's look. "Is that why you don't trust me?"

"I don't distrust you specifically," Cerberumon explained. "That said, trust is earned, not handed out."

KaiserGreymon folded his arms and frowned. "Okay. Fair point…" he muttered, reluctantly acknowledging that he had a point. It wasn't as if he didn't have his reservations about the Cerberumon.

The two made it to the center of the courtyard, where the fountain of the multi-headed reptile digimon continued to trickle out water. KaiserGreymon walked up to the fountain that he remembered being interested in earlier. The noise of its running water was the only sound he could hear in the city. He leaned forwards on the stone rim and looked down into the water. He could see several coins in the bottom.

KaiserGreymon looked at the serpent-like statue and then turned to Cerberumon. "So who's this handsome bloke?" he said with a bit of irony in his voice. "I haven't seen one of him before."

"That's Orochimon," Charon explained. "He founded this city of Hydra's Port."

"Oh really," KaiserGreymon mused. He then stepped off from the fountain and turned to the canine digimon. "Anyways, as for why I'm going out at this time of night, there's less digimon around. It's easier to familiarize myself with the city this way."

"You could wait until daylight and get Toucanmon or somebody to be your tour guide," Cerberumon pointed out.

KaiserGreymon shuddered at the prospect of having to follow that slow Toucanmon around all day. "I'll pass," he insisted. "I'm better off on my own. I've always marched to the beat of my own drum, at any rate."

"Suit yourself," the hell hound digimon replied. He turned around and began pattering back to the city hall. "I need to get back."

"I need to get a move on anyways," KaiserGreymon said, walking around the fountain and heading in the opposite direction. "This street heads down to the harbour, right?" he asked, gesturing to the horizontal street at the other end of the courtyard.

"Yeah, it heads straight there," Cerberumon replied. He didn't say anything else as he disappeared back into the lobby.

"Guess that's where I'm headed, then," KaiserGreymon muttered.

He walked away from the fountain and made his way over to the street. He heard the metal of his boots clang against the paved cobbles as he started plodding down it. The street was very long and was on a slight incline. It looked like it spanned about a kilometer, if not more. But at the very end of the street, KaiserGreymon could see the reflection of the moon rippling in the harbour.

It looked simple enough. The harbour was the first place he wanted to check out, as that was the city's main feature. Plus, all of the pirates were marine digimon, so it made sense to him that he should get acquainted with the waterfront. He just hoped that he'd be able to stay on land as much as possible.

The dragon man tread down the street, being sure to take in his surroundings and any landmarks that he might have to come back to, namely the buildings. The sound of his sword rattling against his armour echoed down the empty street. The reverberations and his heavy footsteps cut through the silence.

"Right, KaiserGreymon," he muttered to himself.

He could never stand silence. It made him edgy. As a result, he had a tendency to fill the void with his own voice by vocalizing his thoughts.

"Make sure to keep a look out for anybody suspicious. You know the pirates are a Neptunemon, a Sagomon, a Tylomon, a Submarimon, a Zudomon, and a Divermon. That much is clear, but wanted criminals have a tendency to use alternate digimon forms or slide evolutions. If I was a criminal who didn't want to be recognised, I'd use my BurningGreymon or GeoGreymon form instead of this form," he said in a near mumble.

He then started thinking to himself, trying to figure out what possible alternate forms they could have. "_Well, Submarimon is a branch of the Armadillomon family. I'm pretty sure Sagomon is part of the Kamemon family. Zudomon is the Gomamon family. So those are some strong possibilities. I don't know about the others though. I haven't heard about Neptunemon until today. I don't even know what one looks like. It's no doubt that a rare mega level like that would stick out like a sore thumb, but I don't even know what his other forms could be,_" he mused.

After several minutes, he finally reached at the bottom of the street. He found himself gazing at the Hydra's Port waterfront. KaiserGreymon stepped onto the wide stone wharf and looked around.

The quays and ports were built completely around the coast of the small bay, covering the entire harbour on both the side KaiserGreymon was on and the other side, across the harbour. There weren't just docks and piers either, there were also warehouses and loading bays. To KaiserGreymon's surprise, there were more than just places related to aquatic-based industries. There were also seaside parks and boardwalks, not to mention a large commercial district filled with several shops and stands.

Most of these shops and buildings were built over the water of the harbour. It looked like there were two entrances to the shops: one was the regular way, a door leading from the boardwalk, and the other was a water entrance. The water entrance was really just the side of the building facing the water. That side had no wall and there was a large portion of floor missing, instead having a small basin of water inside the building where marine digimon could swim up into the shop and form their own line. In closed hours like now, it was sealed off by a gate that extended deep underwater. KaiserGreymon supposed that this inclusive building method made sense, considering how much of the city's population were aquatic.

As he walked, KaiserGreymon continued looking around the harbour. There were buildings on both sides and the inner most end of the small bay, but the city center seemed to be located at the side that KaiserGreymon was on. Considering how dark it was, KaiserGreymon couldn't really see the finer details of any of the buildings unless he was close to them. There were one or two docked galleons, but KaiserGreymon saw more docked rafts than any other watercraft. He wasn't sure how anybody was supposed to travel in those. Maybe they were used for pulling cargo on; it did seem cheaper than building a whole galleon.

He deduced that this harbour had to be extremely active during the daytime. Not very good for pirate hunting. There would be too many people, which meant two things: one, there would be too much risk of collateral damage if he decided to engage the pirates (and he didn't put it past the pirates to use innocents as shields,) and two, all those digimon would make it easier for the pirates to blend in. KaiserGreymon would really have to think hard about this one. Unfortunately, coming up with complex strategies wasn't really his strong suit. He was much more instinctive – he preferred to think on his feet.

KaiserGreymon continued to tread down the stone wharf. Down there, the smell of salt and the sea was much stronger, understandably. As he walked, he gazed into the bay, watching as the moon's reflection rippled and listening to the small waves sloshing against the rock wall of the wharf.

It was then that something caught his attention. He suddenly saw a bright sparkle in the middle of the harbour. Something reflected the moon's light.

"What the…" KaiserGreymon muttered. He hurried over to the railing of the wharf and leaned over the side, narrowing his eyes to try and get a good look at what he saw.

Much to his annoyance, he couldn't make out what it was, but he definitely saw something big moving against the water. "What is that?" he wondered, jutting his neck out and straining his eyes to try and identify that.

"Bloody hell," he muttered, stopping and looking around quickly. His curiosity was getting the better of him once again. A part of him thought that it could be a pirate. Realistically, that was incredibly unlikely, but he wouldn't be able to stand it if he didn't go out and see with his own two eyes. In KaiserGreymon's view, it was always better to try and be wrong than it was to not even try at all.

He looked around at his surroundings fervently. "How do I get out there without swimming?" he thought to himself. His blue eyes then stopped, widened, and he grinned broadly. "Ah hah!"

Over to his left, he saw a set of stairs leading down to a stone path on a long, grassy embankment that was closer to sea level. There were a few benches that faced the harbour. However, that wasn't what KaiserGreymon was interested in. He was interested in the rowboat that was pulled up onto the grass.

He grinned and hurried down the stairs onto the grassy bank. "This is just what I need," he said to himself, jogging over to the small, wooden dinghy. He looked inside the boat and saw that the two oars were resting at the bottom, much to his relief. KaiserGreymon turned his head, looking back towards the harbour. He saw the dark, moon-tipped silhouette still moving.

He glanced to his left and noticed where the rowboat came from. Further down the bank was a pier where a closed rowboat rental shop was located. They must have forgot to collect this one before closing.

"Well, I'm sure they won't mind if I borrow this," the dragon muttered, grabbing the edge of the boat and dragging it down the bank into the water.

KaiserGreymon got in ankle deep into the water before letting go and hopping in the rowboat. He sat down on the wooden seat, and upon feeling the end of his sword poke at the bottom of the boat, he took the Ryūgonken off of his back and placed it beside him. Next, he pulled up the oars and pulled them through the rings on each side of the rowboat, making them easier to control.

He took a deep breath. "Right, KaiserGreymon," he said to himself. "Whatever you do, don't fall in."

With that, he used the oars to slowly push away from land. He started rowing carefully, trying to get used to being on water and finding a good rhythm to paddle the oars. Piloting a rowboat wasn't something that he did regularly. His discomfort was clear on his face, but that didn't stop him.

KaiserGreymon continued rowing across the water. He constantly looked over his shoulder, making sure that he was headed in the direction of the figure. Rowing definitely had a learning curve, but it wasn't _too_ difficult. He definitely had the upper body strength to row quickly, and he had the control from his swordsmanship to know how much to move the oars when turning.

The boat bobbed up and down over the waves. The long, wooden paddles splashed in and out of the water, spraying some salt water into the dinghy with every swing. KaiserGreymon sat in the exact center of the rowboat's seat, not wanting to rock the boat and risk falling in. He was starting to reconsider his decision to wear all that armour, even though he knew if he fell in, the armour wouldn't make too much of a difference to him.

He exhaled with each stroke of the oars, going further out into the harbour. KaiserGreymon turned his head to look over his shoulder again. He kept his eyes on the figure. The silhouette was becoming more visible as he drew closer. The figure seemed to have stopped moving.

KaiserGreymon neared the figure until he was about thirty feet away. It wasn't until then that he realised how tall the digimon was. He had a long serpent-like body and he towered over KaiserGreymon and the rowboat. "_Is that some sort of evolved form of Seadramon?_" he wondered as he gazed at him.

After taking a deep breath, KaiserGreymon started to stand up in the rowboat so that he could turn and face the digimon. He stretched his arms out to balance himself, feeling extremely wobbly on his feet. He underestimated how difficult it was to stand up in a boat while it was on the water. "Damn water," he whispered, grimacing as he slowly turned around, bit by bit. He was tempted to grab the Ryūgonken and stab it into the floor of the wooden boat for balance, but he knew that that would be an extremely bad idea.

Finally, he found a comfortable position that was facing the giant sea serpent digimon. The gold-plated sea dragon seemed to be floating in the same spot still, upright with his back to KaiserGreymon. He seemed to be looking around the harbour intently.

"Hey, you!" KaiserGreymon called out to him, turning his head up and looking at the MetalSeadramon. The MetalSeadramon turned around quickly and looked down at him. A look of surprise crossed over his face upon seeing the reptile digimon below him.

"What are you doing out here at this time of night?" KaiserGreymon inquired, raising an eyebrow and looking at the digimon with a scrutinising look.

The sea serpent digimon stared at him for a few moments.

"…Wel-"

Before KaiserGreymon could get a word in edge-wise, the giant sea dragon suddenly dove into the water. His form crashed down on the surf and sent an explosion of water bursting upwards.

"Wh-hey! Wait a minute!" KaiserGreymon sputtered, bracing himself as water came crashing down on him and the rowboat. "Damn it!"

As the giant digimon dove underwater and disappeared from view, a huge wave came surging out from around where he hit the water. The one meter wave rolled swiftly towards KaiserGreymon and the rowboat. As it closed in on them, the stern of the dinghy tipped upwards as it climbed up the side of the wave.

KaiserGreymon started to lose his balance and he frantically reached for his sword, desperate to keep his balance and stop himself from stumbling backwards. At the same time, the rowboat reached the apex of the wave and immediately started tipping forwards. As the boat dipped down the other side of the wave, KaiserGreymon's equilibrium was completely reversed and all of his weight ended up sending him staggering forwards. His eyes widened with horror as his sword hit the floor of the vessel and he was thrown from the boat. As he fell towards the water, he could only shout out one word.

"Shit!"

The dragon slammed into the water and quickly sank, the seawater overtaking his head and filling his helmet. The water washed over his mouth, nose, eyes, and ears. KaiserGreymon let out a muffled shout as he reached up towards the surface, but the surface was already out of reach. Oxygen bubbles from the shout floated up, out of the eye holes of his helmet. He tried to thrash his other arm in a desperate attempt to get himself afloat.

He kicked his legs unevenly and splashed hopelessly under the water. He was doing his best to hold his breath while swimming, but he didn't know how long he could last for.

His heavy plate armour was weighing him down, dragging him deeper and deeper. In his frenzied mind, he briefly considered trying to unstrap the armour and abandon it altogether, but that took several minutes even when he was on land and not desperately fighting for his life. And even if he did manage to get the armour off before the water entered his lungs, there was still one other fact that plagued him: he didn't know how to swim.

Through his blurred, stinging eyes, he could see the brief light of the moon overhead. KaiserGreymon kept his mouth closed and he continued to grab and pull at the water madly. He tried his best to focus his concentration and try to mimic how he had seen other digimon swim, but it got him nowhere. KaiserGreymon felt his lungs burn and ache until he couldn't handle it anymore, he opened his mouth and it filled up with water instead of the oxygen it needed.

KaiserGreymon knew things weren't looking good, but he wouldn't give up. He refused to. He wouldn't let himself die in a way like that. He even tried activating his Fire Master powers, but they wouldn't activate. They couldn't when he was completely doused with water. The dragon grunted and growled, struggling desperately against the water around him, his mind working in overdrive as thoughts and emotions raced about inside it.

After several seconds, his movements started to grow more and more sluggish. He gave a rebellious snarl and reached up a final time. KaiserGreymon started to feel himself slip closer and closer to unconsciousness.

But then he felt something grab his hand. He opened his eyes weakly and saw something black against the moonlight. The figure dove closer to him until he felt it brush against his side. In the back of his weary mind, KaiserGreymon noted that it felt like scales. KaiserGreymon felt his arm being pulled over the figure's neck. Even if he wanted to resist, he was too weak to. Instead, he grabbed hold of the figure with as much strength as he could muster.

Suddenly, he felt himself being pulled upwards, back towards the surface. KaiserGreymon saw the moonlight getting brighter and brighter.

"_Just hold on, KaiserGreymon_," he told himself, trying to use mind over matter. "_Just a few more seconds_."

The figure swam swiftly, pulling KaiserGreymon nearer to the surface. The dragon's lungs seemed ready to explode.

Finally, the two burst out of the water with large splash. KaiserGreymon coughed violently, expelling the water from his lungs and throat. He felt like he was coughing up the entire bay. To his relief, he could feel the water draining out of his helmet around the gap at the neck. The dragon held his savior with one hand and splashed around wildly with the other as he sucked in air, alternating between gasps and coughs.

"Are you alright?" the figure's calm voice asked, breathing heavily.

KaiserGreymon coughed and inhaled with need, outdoing the other digimon's breaths. "Y…Yeah," he managed. He looked around and saw the rowboat floating nearby. The digimon beside him started swimming them over to it.

"Hold onto the boat," the figure told him.

KaiserGreymon let out a tired grunt and complied, slinging his arm over the side of the boat and holding on tightly. "Righ'…" he muttered, still panting.

The figure then slipped out from under KaiserGreymon's hold and swam to the back of the boat. Next, he started pushing it towards the shore. Completely exhausted from the struggle, KaiserGreymon could only hold on as the boat was pushed back towards the grassy bank that he came from. He tried to look over his shoulder to see who had helped him, but the digimon was shielded by the back of the boat.

After a few minutes, they closed in on the shore and KaiserGreymon could feel the murky ground against his waterlogged boots. KaiserGreymon couldn't begin to describe how good it felt to stand on solid ground again. He waded through the water, trudged out and onto the grass, and fell to his hands and knees.

"Hullo, land!" he said with relief, gripping the grass tightly. Water dripped from his totally soaked body and he continued to cough up some of the residual seawater. Once he was composed, the first thing KaiserGreymon did was reach up to his head. Much to his relief, he still felt his goggles resting there. He was worried he lost them in the struggle.

As he did, he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, the rowboat get pushed ashore. He heard a clamouring noise come from the boat and he slowly looked over. He saw a humanoid dragon man digimon shuffling with something on the other side of the rowboat.

The first thing KaiserGreymon could see about the digimon were the drenched, black scales all over his body, not unlike KaiserGreymon's own scales. KaiserGreymon pushed himself up to get a better view. The digimon seemed to be pulling up the black, baggy pants that covered his legs. KaiserGreymon started to wonder why he needed pants that loose, but he began to think that they were a sort of traditional clothing.

KaiserGreymon continued to inspect the digimon. He never saw a digimon of that species before. The dragon man seemed very fit, but KaiserGreymon was surprised that he was able to swim with him in tow, as he was more muscular and armoured, thus heavier than the digimon. The digimon kneeled down and began strapping his greaves around his shins, under the loose pant legs. They rested above his big, clawed feet. KaiserGreymon noted that he must have taken his armour off before going in the water, unlike himself, to his embarrassment.

It was as the dragon man was kneeling did KaiserGreymon notice the long shocks of soaked white hair that clung to his back as they flowed down from his helmeted head. The digimon finished with his shin armour and stood up. KaiserGreymon noticed the plates of intricate, black armour with red trimming that hung from the belt that secured his pants to his hips. They rustled slightly as the digimon bent down and picked up his chest armour. They were in a similar style to the faulds that hung from his sides: detailed, black plate armour with red trimming. He pulled it over his head and let it rest on his shoulders. The breastplate over his pectoral muscles seemed to have a slight, blue glow to them.

The digimon then went and started pulling on his arm armour. The spaulders on his shoulders donned massive blades and segmented plates that went down his biceps. Even those had spikes, gold ones by the look of it. The vambraces that covered his forearms were similar in style, as a large blade-like feature protruded from the end of each elbow. Lastly, he pulled on some gauntlets, which had two small gold spikes on each, where the knuckles were. KaiserGreymon was detecting a theme here. Even the digimon's helmet was loaded with horns and blades. Two diamond shaped blades protruded from the side of the dragon man's head and faced upwards. There was a huge blade sticking up at the digimon's forehead, and another equally large blade right behind it, just in front of where his locks of white hair jutted out from. His helmet was very oddly shaped to KaiserGreymon; it had strange rectangular feature in front of where his mouth would be.

In fact, his whole armour set seemed overly complicated, in KaiserGreymon's opinion. The armour had the theme of black plate with red lining and gold ornamentation, not to mention all the spikes and blades. It would have been intimidating to less courageous digimon.

Finally, the digimon picked up his last piece of equipment from the side of the boat: two long, jagged swords that looked like a cross between a scimitar and a katana. They certainly looked deadly though.

"_Not too pretentious…_" KaiserGreymon sarcastically mused to himself.

KaiserGreymon took a strong breath and then forced himself up and onto his feet. He stood on wobbly legs, as he was exhausted from the struggle, but he didn't let it show as he turned towards the digimon. "Hey, you!" he called out.

The samurai-like dragon man turned around to face him. He placed his swords in his belt and looked KaiserGreymon over carefully. "How are you feeling?" he asked him.

"Never mind that," KaiserGreymon responded shortly, waving his arm out in a dismissive manner. "Who are you?"

The digimon walked around the boat and stepped up to KaiserGreymon "My name is Gaiomon," he told him, outstretching his hand politely.

KaiserGreymon stared at this 'Gaiomon' digimon's hand for a few moments before slowly grasping it with his own. He shook his hand firmly. "KaiserGreymon," he answered guardedly.

"It's a pleasure, KaiserGreymon," Gaiomon replied, retracting his hand after a few moments.

"Right. Err…" KaiserGreymon stalled, pulling his hand away and rubbing the back of his neck, where he felt his short, blonde hair clinging to his scales beneath his helmet. He looked at Jinryu cagily. "…What are you, exactly?"

Gaiomon looked at himself and then back up at KaiserGreymon. "You mean my species?" he asked. "As you can tell from my name, I'm a Gaiomon. I'm surprised you don't know that, as a KaiserGreymon."

"Eh?" KaiserGreymon asked with a frown. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Gaiomons are relatives of the Greymon lineage," Gaiomon replied.

"…Odd looking Greymon, if I do say so myself," KaiserGreymon observed, folding his arms. "I've never heard of Gaiomons before, though I guess I grew up in a small town."

Gaiomon smiled. "Well, you learn something new every day," he said to him.

KaiserGreymon grunted, not entirely pleased with the fact that he needed to be saved and was now dripping wet. "Yeah. Right. Anyways. What were you doing out there?"

The samurai digimon raised an eyebrow. "Do you mean in the water or out on the wharf in general?" he asked for confirmation.

KaiserGreymon reached into the rowboat and picked up the Ryūgonken, sliding it onto its holder on his back. "Both," he replied, glancing at the Gaiomon with cold blue eyes.

"Well, I was out on the wharf because I enjoy the peace and quiet of the night," Gaiomon explained, looking away from KaiserGreymon and out towards the bay. "And I was in the water because I saw you drowning, so I jumped in to save your life." The Gaiomon smiled a bit. "I still haven't received a 'thank you', by the way."

KaiserGreymon's eye twitched and he turned to look at Gaiomon with a stubborn glare. "I did _not_ need saving. I was perfectly fine without your help, thank you very much," he responded, his voice sounding brusque.

"You're welcome," Gaiomon replied, only serving to fire up KaiserGreymon even more.

"I was alright, damn it!" KaiserGreymon barked, feeling like his pride was on the line.

"Then I would hate to see you when you're in peril," Gaiomon quipped calmly.

KaiserGreymon growled. "Oh, forget it," he huffed, turning around and beginning to head for the stairs that led back up to the wharf. He then stopped when something crossed his mind. He looked over his shoulder, back at Gaiomon. "Hey, did you see that digimon out there? The one that knocked me in the water?"

Gaiomon frowned and thought for a moment. "It was dark, but I think I could make it out. It looked to be a MetalSeadramon. One of the Mega forms of Seadramon," he replied knowledgeably. "It was too big for a MegaSeadramon and too small for a GigaSeadramon."

"Alright…" KaiserGreymon murmured, more to himself than to Gaiomon. "He sure took off fast enough, didn't he?"

"That reminds me…" Gaiomon said, walking over to KaiserGreymon. "What were _you_ doing out there in the harbour in the middle of the night?"

"None of your business," KaiserGreymon answered curtly.

Gaiomon folded his arms and tilted his head with a frown. "Isn't it a bit hypocritical to demand to know what I'm doing when you won't tell me what you're doing?" he asked him. "You at least owe me that much after I saved your life."

KaiserGreymon opened his mouth to retort, but he decided there was no point. He felt like this Gaiomon person would be holding that act of kindness over his head for awhile. He also reluctantly acknowledged that he had a point. "Fine. I was checking out that MetalSeadramon. He seemed kind of fishy, swimming out there in the middle of the night. I had a gut feeling he might have something to do with the pirates I'm looking for."

"Pirates?" Gaiomon asked, raising an eyebrow in mild surprise. "What do you do, exactly?"

"I guess you could call me an adventurer," KaiserGreymon responded.

"An adventurer?" the dragon samurai said with some intrigue. "That's my occupation too."

"Yeah?" KaiserGreymon asked, glancing over with some interest. "I guess that's why you're such a know-it-all when it comes to digimon species."

"I'll take that as a compliment from you," Gaiomon spoke, eyeing him carefully. "So these pirates, did somebody hire you or are you hunting them out of the goodness of your heart?"

KaiserGreymon scoffed. "Tch. Like I'd do this for free," he retorted. "No, the mayor hired me."

"I see…" Gaiomon replied with a slight nod. "And you're not from around here, are you?"

KaiserGreymon turned and leveled a stare at him. "And people say _I'm_ nosy…" he said, hoping to make it clear that he wasn't interested in playing twenty questions.

Gaiomon bowed his head. "Forgive me. It's none of my business," he apologised. He looked up at KaiserGreymon. "Anyways, I'm sure you'll want to go and dry yourself off. Don't let me keep you."

The larger dragon man rubbed the back of his neck. "Err, yeah," he responded with a quick nod. He thought about it for a moment. "That's not a terrible idea. I suppose I can go look around the city tomorrow."

KaiserGreymon felt too exhausted from the near-drowning to go exploring the city or looking for pirates. He wouldn't be able to use his fire-manipulation abilities very well while soaked like that anyways. With a short nod in Gaiomon's direction, KaiserGreymon started walking up the stairs leading to the stone wharf.

Gaiomon watched as KaiserGreymon began heading up. "It was nice meeting you, KaiserGreymon," he called over to him.

KaiserGreymon glanced over his shoulder for a moment. "Yeah. Right. You too, I'm sure," he replied offhandedly.

The dragon man then walked off the quay and started heading towards the street that lead back up to the city hall.

"_That MetalSeadramon,_" KaiserGreymon thought. "_He sure turned tail swiftly as soon as he saw me. Kind of suspicious if you ask me. Makes me think that he was doing something wrong. Could he be connected to the pirates? Hmph. Well. I'll have to ask Plesiomon tomorrow. I just hope that damn Cerberumon doesn't see me dragging myself back inside while I'm drenched like this…"_

* * *

About half an hour later, MetalSeadramon resurfaced by the side of the Abyss' Shadow. As he emerged, water dripped from his form and rippled around him. The aquatic dragon rose up so that he loomed over the galleon's deck. He slowly looked around the wooden platforms that took on a blue hue from the moonlight.

"Hello?" he asked, his eyes scanning the ship. "Is anybody up? Neptunemon?"

"Over here, MetalSeadramon," the Captain's voice said.

MetalSeadramon turned and saw Neptunemon make his way down a set of stairs from the stern of the vessel. His fish-like body slithered across the deck and he gave MetalSeadramon a nod as he made his way over to the railing. The large dragon nodded as the fish man stopped in front of him. "Is everybody else asleep?" he questioned, looking around.

"Yeah. I'm on watch tonight," Neptunemon answered, turning his head upwards to look at MetalSeadramon. "So, how did the scouting mission go?"

"Generally fine," MetalSeadramon explained, though he remembered the event earlier in the harbour.

Neptunemon thought to himself quietly for a moment. "Good… So you saw a lot of the harbour? Landmarks? Vessels? Fortifications and such?" he asked.

"Yes," was his response.

"Enough to help Divermon draw up a map of the harbour tomorrow?" the Neptunemon inquired further.

"I can do that," MetalSeadramon replied. He thought for a few seconds. "Divermon?"

Neptunemon nodded. "He's pretty new and he's not exactly pirate material, but he's a hell of a navigator," he explained.

"I see…" MetalSeadramon lowered himself so that he was at eye-level with Neptunemon. "I get the feeling that your second-in-command doesn't like me much."

"Sagomon?" Neptunemon asked, folding his arms and grinning. "Ignore him. He's always suspicious of new faces. He'll get used to you eventually."

"I'll take your word for it," he said.

"So how many ships like this one did you see?" the Captain questioned, tapping the deck of the Abyss' Shadow with his tail.

"Only three," MetalSeadramon explained. "I think galleons like this are quite expensive and only good for long distance trade. Since your attacks have disrupted the long distance trade, my guess is that they're relying on marine digimon to haul shipments. It means less cargo can be transported at a time and they can't be shipped as far or as quickly, but it's more cost-effective and, since they're smaller, the merchant convoys will be harder for us to find."

"Good to know…" Neptunemon mused, thinking to himself.

MetalSeadramon glanced at the Neptunemon. "Why did you send me scouting around at Hydra's Port?"

Neptunemon grinned. "Well, you sound like a smart eel, MetalSeadramon," he replied, looking at him again. "Why do you think?"

MetalSeadramon smiled a bit and closed his eyes. "Know your enemy," he said.

"Exactly! If they're going to start coming after us like you say, then we need to know as much about them as possible," Captain Neptunemon explained. He looked in MetalSeadramon's eyes inquisitively. "So, did you run into any trouble?"

"Actually…" the sea dragon started. "I had a run in with a KaiserGreymon who was out in a rowboat."

"Oh?" Neptunemon asked with a frown. "You didn't attack him, I hope. We don't need that kind of attention on you yet."

MetalSeadramon shook his head, beads of sea water getting flicked off with the motion. "I just swam away," he explained. "When I came back up again, I saw his rowboat on the shore, so I assume he just ignored the issue and rowed back to land."

"Good," the fish man replied. He began to turn. "That's all, MetalSeadramon. I'm heading to bed now. Where will you sleep?"

"I found a place several kilometers away in the sea bed where I can sleep and remain relatively hidden," MetalSeadramon assured him. "I'll be back in the afternoon tomorrow. It usually takes the whole morning to find enough fish to sustain me for the day."

"Okay. Keep in mind, we're relocating the Abyss' Shadow tomorrow. It's not good to stay in one place for too long, I'm sure you know," Neptunemon explained. "We'll be due north. Do you think you can find us?"

"That shouldn't be a problem," MetalSeadramon said. "I found you before, after all."

"I guess you did," the Neptunemon replied with a smirk. "Night, then. Try not to be too late."

With that, Neptune opened a door on the ship deck and disappeared inside, heading downstairs. MetalSeadramon then turned around and slid across the waves. He sunk into the water and slowly vanished from view.


End file.
